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#series: light's overture
dalmascan-requiem · 22 days
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Light's Overture: Magitek
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Cid makes a terrible error.
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Read on AO3 or keep reading after the jump
content warnings: none
Part of FFxivWrite 2024
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The Warrior of Light's ineptitude with technology wasn't originally well-known. Well... Cid learns about it the hard way.
This is for day one's prompt for FFxivWrite 2024, Steer.
“Well, I’ll be. I don’t know how you managed to take the Garleans out while keeping the armor intact, Kris, but I thank you for it.”
Cid flashes the Warrior of Light a grin as Biggs and Wedge give a thumbs up. “Now all we need are the disguises, and you’ll be able to infiltrate the Castrum.” 
The engineer taps a finger to his lips for a moment before continuing. “Kris, you haven’t driven Magitek armor before, right? Why don’t you pilot it back to Revenant’s Toll? While Wedge will be using it at the Castrum, it’ll be helpful for you to know how to control one… in case something happens.”
Kris stares blankly at Cid for a moment. “You want me to…?” A look of excitement spreads across his face as he nods. “Okay, sure! I promise not to break it!”
Huh? What does he mean by that…? Cid can’t help but feel that he made a mistake, but Kris already climbed into the armor and is staring at the control panel.
”Hm… how do I turn it on? Ah, this looks like it—“
“Kris, it’s already on—“
Suddenly, the Magitek armor rears back at an odd angle, threatening to throw Kris out of the driver’s seat. “H-hey! What is—“ He pulls a nearby lever in shock, and the armor shoots its remaining rounds of ammunition into the skies above Mor Dhona.
Oh… Hells…
The Ironworks engineers could only look at the ensuing chaos in horror. Kris starts hitting buttons randomly in a panic, causing the armor to pitch around wildly while he struggles to stay on. After what feels like an eternity, the sound of a sharp crack fills the air as the Magitek armor finally powers down.
Cid watches the smoke rising from the armor in silence, feeling a headache coming on as Kris looks at the control panel in confusion. “Oh. Is… is it okay?”
”Kris, just… get out of the armor. Please.”
He quickly gets out of the armor and watches as Biggs and Wedge access the damage, a slight pout on his face. Well, I suppose the Warrior of Light had no need to learn how to pilot Garlean tech… 
“It’s still structurally sound… somehow.” Wedge shakes his head as he looks at one of the armor’s legs. “One of the components in this leg is busted, but with the right parts, we can fix it. I think.”
”Well, that is a blessing, at least.” Cid sighs, suddenly feeling very tired. “Let’s get this back to—“
Kris perks up as he learns the armor can be fixed. ”Oh, that's good! Do you need me to help with—“
”NO.” The voices of the trio echo in the valley, and Kris looks down at the ground, sulking at the disapproval.
I’d find that more endearing had he not damn near blown up the armor just now… “We all… have our strengths, Kris. Why don’t you secure the disguises? We’ll take care of the armor.”
Kris nods. “Alright, I’ll get it done.” Cid wasn’t sure if Kris was still upset at the incident, but when he was out of earshot, he lets out a deep breath and turned to the others.
”The Warrior of Light is never allowed inside the Ironworks.”
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syoddeye · 23 days
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down the hatch / badgering
141 x f!reader | ~1.9k | series page tags: p in v sex, vaginal fingering, cunnilingus, bad jokes, manipulation, spanking, manhandling a/n: you know that tunnel scene in willy wonka and the chocolate factory? that's how it feels when i write this. a hoot and a half. banner by @/cafekitsune.
it’s an adjustment. living with roommates again. roommates who refuse to leave, thanks to all the death and destruction outside. convenient excuse, really.
no more naked mornings. you could go tits out—they fucking do—but you’re not entirely without reason. as salivating as they are, the hunks are your enemies.
even if they’ve showered, trimmed, and got some of the bloodstains out of their clothes. 
even if soap makes canned meat and powdered eggs palatable, whipping up a spam and rice bowl for you without asking.
even if gaz finds a five-hundred-piece puzzle on a scavenging trip and bites his tongue when you bat his hand away when he tries to help sort the pieces.
even if ghost slips a game of hangman under your door at lights out, and lets you guess a couple of letters each night. (first word? ‘wanker’. second? ‘larynx.’)
even if john—well, wait, no. the asshole hasn’t made a peace offering. probably because he knows you won’t honor them or because he’s sore about the whole ‘no cool nickname’ thing. whatever.
at night, alone in your room, you plot. how does one evict four man-roaches? make living with you worse than living outside.
in a weird way, your austrian neighbor and his aspirations for a fucking von trapp family: the squeakuel comes in handy. he hoarded all types of junk.
soap’s your guinea pig. he’s moody. something’s always itching under his skin. he snaps at the other men too easily and watches you like a dog admiring meat hanging off a bone. opportunity arrives one morning when john and gaz head topside and ghost settles in the living room. you corner the scotsman in the bunker’s tiny gym.
you linger in the doorway, fixated on the dark shapes under soap’s armpits. his mohawk sags, beads of sweat streaking over the freshly shorn hair. down his flexing muscles. and the grunting, christ. it’s a peek into heaven, which makes ruining it difficult.
without a word, you plop onto the other bench and take up the clarinet you found in your room. channeling the gusto of gus polinski, you wet your lips. how hard can it be? you don’t know polka, but you know rossini.
soap’s head snaps at the opening notes, nearly fumbling a pair of dumbbells, his face a flurry of anger, amusement, and annoyance. it’s a valiant effort, his ignoring you, but in the end, you only make it halfway through your best attempt at the william tell overture before he cracks. he rips the instrument from your hands and tosses it aside. he stands over you, smelly and slick, breathing heavily through his nose. 
you end up dragging him to your room.
soap is the definition of a romp in the sheets. a no-holds-barred deathmatch. it’s the first dick you’ve caught in months, and what a reintroduction. a miracle the bed survives. he starts with his mouth sealed to your clit, tongue working like it’s making up for lost time, as if your cunt and his face go way back. it’s refreshing, but you saw how fast he dropped to his knees for gaz.
two orgasms slip out by the time he wrenches off his damp clothes, chin glistening and eyes glittering. he goes cross-eyed the second his dick slaps against your folds, and you laugh at his desperate groaning when he sinks in. though, your laughs are choked off by his sudden, furious thumbing of your clit. (you punch him in the stomach—ignoring the filthy moan that elicits—and hiss out, “a genie isn’t gonna come out, stop fucking rubbing so hard!”) he ends up coming on your stomach and contorts to lick it off, muttering little gratitudes into your skin. it’s…cute. kind of gross, but cute. you kick him out after a power nap.
soap’s a wash. ba-dum tish. try, try again.
you set your sights on gaz. he’s tricky.
it quickly becomes apparent he’s the best at scavenging. smug about it, too, which you leverage. his ego’s easy enough to feed despite his unease. all it takes is batting your lashes and complimenting his hauls.
amazing. this must be the last jar of berbere ever.
pads? for me? so considerate, i’m stunned.
a mostly intact game of monopoly? wow, here, i thought we were done with landlords and taxes.
it’s simple. you begin with small requests. toothpicks. socks. lip balm. when he returns, he drops the goods in your lap like a cat with a mouse. stares at you with those pretty eyes while you lay it on thick. 
you escalate. either he’ll die on your absurd fetch quests or go crazy trying to fulfill them. brand new period panties. a specific type of hair dye. unopened baby lotion. naturally, he can’t find any of them. he still delivers approximations—granny pants, food coloring, and half a bottle of moisturizer—with a hopeful smile you crush under feigned hums of disappointment. ah, well, if this is the best you can do. it chips away at him. his smiles tighten.
you figure he’ll make a dumb mistake on his next outing out of some fucked desperation, and you’ll be down a roach. but after you tell him to keep an unopened pack of nail varnish because they aren’t your colors, he loses it. this time, you’re dragged to bed.
gaz pins you to the mattress, one hand on your throat and the other shoved into your leggings. pupils blown to the point where they’re shark-like. you’d spare a thought for all the poor creatures dead in aquarium tanks across the globe if he wasn’t hellbent on shoving a third finger in.
“so bloody irritating,” gaz seethes. “spoiled and greedy. have you always been a brat, or am i special?”
you spend your ration of oxygen wisely. “i think you think you’re special.”
for that, your knees meet your chest, and your pussy nearly chokes his dick. or so he tells you, pure filth spewing from his mouth. you giggle madly through the slight pinch of pain, mirroring the feral grin on his face. he’s big, and you could be wetter, but you’re not on your back for good behavior. he’s happy to tell you about that, too. how awful you are.
disappointingly, it doesn’t take long for him to lose his grasp on language. a shame, given his shit talk. 
he bats your hand away from your clit when you try to coax your orgasm along. clicks his tongue, eyes half-mast, and smirks. “gonna be good? gonna thank me?” 
in another world, you’d nod. whatever you say, beautiful. in this world, however, you flip the bird, and he flips you.
gaz pants like a bull, pulling you back onto his cock with an iron grip on your hips. his hand comes down across your ass, but there’s this je ne sais quoi missing. it’s the thought that counts, you guess.
after he makes a mess, you fully expect gaz to continue his tirade. instead, he finds a towel. he rolls you over and tucks you in. thanks you. it’s a shame memoirs are meaningless now as the perfect title comes to mind: ‘bunker bumping: backshots in the apocalypse’.
okay. zero for two. historically, settling for 50% isn’t unlike you. 
back at the drawing board, you reevaluate. annoying the men to death hasn’t worked, and they’re exceptionally durable in dogshit conditions. each day, they get closer to rigging the equipment necessary to contact their ‘friends’, seemingly unperturbed by your efforts. in fact, they seem more comfortable. at home. they poke around the utility room to assess what needs maintenance or improvement. the nerve.
it’s untenable. no matter what that dumb voice in your head insists, you miss solitude. miss not having an audience. you want to watch leon and the silence of the lambs without commentary. dance naked. leave the toilet door open. 
you withdraw.
the bedroom becomes your bunker within the bunker. you take meals alone. painstakingly move your puzzles and hoard books. shower at night after they go to bed. ignore them in the halls. keep your mouth shut when someone addresses you. it’s a fruitless endeavor, keeping your head in the sand, but a part of you hopes if you become as unobtrusive as possible, they’ll forget you exist. after all, they have each other. they put those squeaky single beds through the wringer.
problem is, you don’t account for scragglebeard himself. nosy fucker. 
it happens on shower night. towel-clad and testy, you trudge from the bathrooms and find your door open. you freeze in the hall, hearing clinking sounds and lowered voices. gaz and soap emerge, ferrying dishes and dirty clothes, not sparing so much as a glance. your stomach twists, immediately jumping to the worst-case scenario. they’re reclaiming the space, and they’re finally going to kill you.
unfortunately, it’s not so simple.
“whatever this is,” john sternly says the second you enter the room, “we’re going to fix it.”
ghost traipses past, arms full of unopened cans and more dishware. you glare at his back, then turn to john.
“get the fuck out.”
he chuckles. “sweetheart, what’s not clickin’? this isn’t just your shelter anymore.”
“got it,” ghost reenters, a roll of duct tape held aloft. 
well. you had a nice run. sure, the calamity was a setback, but considering you probably lasted longer than everyone you ever hated, present company aside, that’s a tick in the win column. 
however, ghost doesn’t bind your limbs or cover your mouth. he crouches at the ventilation shaft connecting our rooms, rips off several pieces of tape, and covers most of the grid. “you fuckin’ talk in your sleep.” he points at the small hole he left uncovered and stands. “my bed’s right through ‘ere. it’s fuckin’ unsettlin’.” grumbling, he shuffles out once more.
john’s not shy about scanning you from top to bottom, but apparently, he doesn’t like what he sees. he turns away. “what are we missing?”
you pick through what’s left of your clean clothes. “loaded question.” poking your head through a shirt, you shimmy the towel to your hips.
“where else would you find a clarinet?”
“up your–” he glares over his shoulder, and you smile sweetly. “there’s a small storage space in the closet here. it’s empty now.”
“we found the surveillance room and utilities. it stands to reason that there are others.” john scratches his chin, watching you like a hawk as you pull on shorts. 
“oh. you think?”
“i do.”
“well, think outside of my room. i’m going to bed.” you move to the bed and listen to john close the distance. he hovers, his breath hitting your neck in an exasperated huff. it sends a shiver down your spine. you bet he’s got what gaz was missing—experience behind the swing of his palm.
“like it or not, sweetheart, we’re sticking around. now, i’d prefer it if we kept things civil. based on what the boys told me, i know you’re capable of being friendly.”
it’s not the smartest decision in the world, wheeling on a man trained to kill. he catches your wrist as it winds up and twists it sharply behind your back. with one solid push, you get a mouthful of linen as your body promptly hinges at the waist. an angry string of obscenities gets lost in the sheets. you’ve never been so humiliated. or breathtakingly aroused.
john tuts.
“bad call, badger.”
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svndaysaweek · 6 months
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Overture (Prequel to Enlightenment) — {Feat. Karina}
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8.7k words
A/N: You don’t know how old this draft is… I still remember that anon who sent a few asks about this series, and I really hope that they read this! This one is the longest I’ve ever written. Might not be the best piece, but I’m so proud of myself that I did my best. Thank you @dnd-writes for editing and giving me awesome advices. Enjoy!
*Prequel to “Enlightenment”
******
“Doesn’t matter how the two met. It’s about how they’re together ‘til now.”
******
It’s the first day in your new high school. It’s already March but the breeze is yet to blow winter away, strongly acclaiming its presence with the icy wind you face as soon as you come out of the main building of your school to go to the cafeteria. You haven’t made any friends to have lunch with yet, so you change your mind to just head to the smoking spot–behind the auditorium which is already an alien building itself–and kill some time smoking. You turn your way to the smoking spot inside the huge tide of students heading to the cafeteria. Freezing air makes you pace up to the spot.
After passing a few corners where even the wind has been disturbed to travel through, you find a drum can with fire in it making a peaceful crackling sound.
And a girl standing right by it as if wanting to get burnt. “Are you the new one?” Her voice is sharp enough to make it sound wary, yet quite chirpy to end up hitting you as rather coquettish.
“I don’t… I don't really know you,” Your steps towards her contradict your words. “Me neither.” At the fire you light your own cigarette. Your eyes scan her body from the ground to meet hers doing the same to you. The yellow name tag catches your eyes. Her name is Yu Jimin, third grade. And where the name tag is what makes your attention gather up too–perfect size, matches her wavy figure and sassy face, calmly heaves when she’s inhaling in the smoke.
“My name’s not that hard to read,” That’s when you realize that Yu Jimin, this unusual girl, will be an attraction with challenges. It’s all in her grin, in her turbid eyes that never leave yours–to be honest, it’s yours that never leaves hers; they won’t let the leash on your eyes loosen, until she wants to.
You suck it in, and breathe out a mouthful of smoke in the cold air. You look at her again and she's been watching you thoroughly, from head to toe, examining your body, shape, façade and all things she finds nice to look at, regardless of you mirroring her like once isn’t really enough.
She’s got such a nice, sculpted body, hidden under the school uniform but even more premo like that; concave and convex, it just hugs her curves impeccably. Narrow waist and wide, tight hips causing the skirt to struggle not to be torn apart. What’s more is her face, at the height of your chest, looking almost unrealistic, inhumanly beautiful, especially with a shallow grin like right now.
You are automatically making steps toward Jimin and she’s not backing up. You turn your head right to let out the smoke and then return to the ongoing gaze between you two.
“Don’t I look cold?” Jimin steps backwards, from the fire and from you. It makes you just automatically look at her legs, so slick and teem with femininity. You keep following what she tells you to do, what the hormones tell you to do.
“What do you want me to say?” It should be delivered as a counterattack to the dominance Jimin has shown you, but it, unfortunately, ends up sounding as if you were really confused. And Jimin almost bursts into laughter which she manages to hold in.
“So, third grade? What class are you in?”
“Two. You?” You drop the used cigarette and step on it to put it out. “Four. I’ll drop by sometime, handsome.”
Then she leaves the spot just like that. You are so interested in the girl Yoo Jimin. Given that she’s pretty like that, smokes around, she’s nothing like the normal students, obviously. And you can tell Jimin also found you special. Yeah, you know people don’t get to see a man like you quite often. You also know you don’t get to see a girl so appetizing like her often. It’s third year in highschool. You’re no amateur to let a girl play you around, rather, you’ve learned to control those feisty, hungry girls, but ugh, to be honest you don’t know what’s going on. 
******
She never comes to see you until the end of school. Nor do you, because you thought you could wait–precisely, you thought you had to wait. You definitely want to take the upper hand in this new relationship so you just head home, yet with a bit of disappointment. But you don’t let anyone know. Maybe she’s just playing you out. That’s unacceptable for you. You calmly wait for the bus deep in thought. Maybe find someone else tomorrow. I don’t know.
“Hey, going somewhere?”
Fuck. It’s her. Jimin.
You think of complaining, but swallow it back and answer. “Home. You?” Jimin shrugs with nonchalance. “I don’t know. Your place, maybe? Do you live alone?” She lunges in suddenly, and you could just let her be as spunky as she can be. “I do. Why do you want to know that?” You throw a question, feigning calmness, and Jimin just smirks back.
“Don’t ask me.”
You’re on the bus. You let Jimin take the window side and sit next to her. You stuff your ears with some random songs and lock your eyes to the screen in your palm to leave the absorbing girl next to you out of your world even for a second.
“What made you move to my school?” Suddenly one of your earphones is between her fingers, your arm in hers to squish her breast slightly which feels so intentional. This bold little chick keeps surprising you in unforeseeable ways. Besides, you can read that she’s definitely testing you. Seems a little bit like an upside-down situation, for you to be the object, and oh, don’t you say you don’t find this rather fun.
“Well, there was an accident. You don’t need to know any further.” Her questions don’t seem to end, however. An eye roll might silence her—
“You can tell me. It’s alri-“
“You’d better shut the fuck up, Jimin.” Your fingers hold her chin up, facing you, merely a breath away as your noses tickle each other. And what gets you a moment later is her eyes, round and glowy, that could easily see through your brain, trying to suffocate you in the vivid yet gooey gaze. And there she plants her words straight into your brain; I’m a little impressed, but try harder. 
A sudden squeak of the brake informs you to get off. You step out of the bus and Jimin quietly follows. Then you start walking at a rather slow pace. The sound of another pair of footsteps is the only clue of her existence for you.
“You made me wait.” You break the silence as you near your house. You don’t bother turning back to be an audience for her commanding attitude, but her cockiness nonetheless makes it to your ears.
“Well, I might have just forgotten. My bad.” You unlock the door, let Jimin in and close it. Right after the thud you pin her arms over her head with one hand, eliciting a sharp yelp from her.
“You made me fucking wait, Jimin. You’ll have to pay for it.” Your face is just a few inches from hers again. Your straining voice is mixed with her breath, hot, and your burning gaze never leaves hers, to return the blow that she had on your mind; you don’t know me yet.
“You should feel lucky.”
“Why?”
“I’m interested in you.” Jimin’s words, however, don’t sound tense or weak despite your visible dominance. Rather, it’s an impudent confidence that defies the dynamic knotted between your eyes. Jimin herself visualizes it with an even wider smile, dense with deliberate harm to your ego.
“Mmm…!” You dive into Jimin’s lips while your other hand suddenly wraps around her neck hard. Keeping the chokehold still, your hand once holding her wrists tears her school shirt open, letting the buttons randomly fly to the floor. With her hands free, they dangle on your arms. Her demure hand tries to push you back from her neck, but her tongue is flapping inside your mouth, already allured by the intenseness. Your other hand hesitates about before swiftly undoing her bra and Jimin drops it on the floor. You squeeze the godly pair of flesh and soon pull back from the kiss.
“Shit, you like it rough, huh?” Jimin giggles, with a killing lip bite, and discards her buttonless shirt. There you feel something kick your heart, to see a girl enjoying your selfishness and harshness for the first time. A thought that this girl might be the one for you passes through your mind like a hit-and-run truck.
You turn yourselves around and make Jimin walk backwards to your bedroom with your guide. Jimin doesn't wait to unbutton your shirt on your way, and the corners of her lips soon get pulled down by the lust exponentially charging up. You try to look calm but you’re no different–can’t help it in front of this amazing figure of Jimin, skin-to-skin just for you.
Entering the bedroom you push Jimin onto the bed. Her under lip experiences another intense bite as you lay her down and climb over her body, face to face just like a few minutes ago. With one hand supporting your weight, you take the other to her irresistible breasts and fondle them. Jimin hooks her arms and magnetizes your lips to hers for a delirious lip lock once again. Your hand slides down her torso to the button of her uniform skirt and undoes it then takes it off of her fatal legs and throws it to the floor.
“Next time you won’t wear these, okay?” It’s a demand but also a command, with your fingers on the wet spot on her panties. Her hands find themselves wandering on your toned chest, much in admiration. She nods quickly and unbuckles your pants.
“Needy,” Her hastiness makes you grin, and your words only make Jimin’s excitement grow.
“Yes. I am.” This is what makes you wanna accept the challenge; she’s talking things like that all too fresh, like you have to feel thankful for it. You take your pants off with your underwear to be fully naked. You help Jimin get rid of the annoying cloth being dampened by her pussy off her legs and throw it to the pile of clothes on the floor. With the anticipation for the next step Jimin’s breath paces up, running thin like her patience.
“You’re fucking big…” Jimin marvels at the way your cock tickles her belly button and her tummy. You slap her bare stomach a few times with your cock, spit on it and spread the slickness across with slow strokes.
“I said you’ll have to pay for it, Jimin,” You rub your cock on her wetness, gaining more lubrication, and slap your cock on her folds to see her reaction.
“Ah, please make me…Make me-OH FUCK…!” You push into the hilt with a swift thrust. The tightness draws a groan straight from your throat, and your right hand rises to her neck and chokes her hard again.
“You tell me who’s lucky. You think it’s still me?” Straight to the point that has been bothering you ever since it was spoken. You love to make things clear—dirty—who’s the one to stand and who’s the one to kneel. And if she ever intended to get under your skin, well, she pushed the wrong button.
Jimin’s eyes slam shut, unlike her agape mouth through which you can see her tongue has lost its way, dragged here and there by the hand of her senses, overthrown by what you’re doing. You keep thrusting in and out at such a pace, every time making sure your balls hit her ass, filling her tight hole up ecstatically with no vacancy.
“Hah, god…! It’s me, I’m the lucky one! I’m so fucking lucky to have your big cock inside me!”
“Good. See, your act doesn’t last a day.”
Her lips tremble, as if about to cry, as if all the fucking around was just a pretense and she actually has to be under you. She bites the lower one but can’t hold the shiver down. 
You move your hand from Jimin’s neck to her face, grabbing her cheeks in one grip. You bring her face close to yours, both shaking to the orgasmic rhythm but never losing eye contact. Then you slap her cheeks, out of nowhere, just enough for the sound to be pleasurable but not too painful. Jimin starts to drool when you do that several times more, with loud, long moans gradually turning into screams.
“Oh, fuck, yes…! FUCK YES…!” Done with the hitting, you push in your fingers to Jimin’s unsilent mouth to get a better hold of her body. A teardrop leaves her glossy eyes and rolls down to where her ear is. A perfect mixture of pain and pleasure, both of which makes you two forget about tomorrow.
“I’m cumming, Jesus! I-I… Fucking cummi-“ Jimin’s back viciously arches so upward that you almost slip out. Her arms don’t seem to settle for a while before they dig into your back to work as anchors, her body vulnerable in the midst of a destructive swirl of pleasure. But that’s none of your concern as you make the haze in her head threaten her consciousness.
“Fuck, you’re perfect.” You wait for Jimin to come down but that’s so silly of you to do so; your ravageous ramming cock never lets her. All of a sudden you pull out, causing Jimin to shake immensely, and flip her on all fours. Her sex is glistening and the other hole is too, both of them slick with her juices and constricting irregularly.
When Jimin feels your cock rub on her pussy she collapses onto the mattress, only her ass up and her face down, exhausted on the bed, faced to the right. But whenever your cock teases her other hole Jimin shudders, toes curl and her fists try to tear your sheets at the sensation of her asshole getting stimulated.
“Agh, fuck…” You don’t warn Jimin when you insert the head of your cock inside her tight ass. This time even you can’t handle the pleasure of its tremendous tightness as you shut your eyes and groan loudly.
“Holy fuck, Jimin, this is so tight,” You tell her when you’re halfway in. Her body stays still, but her hands ball up and her toes curl until they all become pale. Every inch deeper inside her ass is the moment for you to admire the transcendental tightness you’ve never experienced from those other girls you have been through. Maybe you’re lucky too, to have found this perfect body with nothing to lament on.
“Oh, please, that’s deep! Fuck my ass deep just like-oh my fucking god!” Your reaction is quick—it’s more of a reflection though—doing more than what Jimin asked even before she finishes her words, beginning the mindless assfuck with such a carefree pace. You bring her powerless head up with your hand wrapped around her neck, tight, choking her again. The tighter you grip, the tighter her ass gets. You catch a glimpse of the crooked corner of her lips, which only fuels your inner engines to work even harder.
It’s just your thing; when you see a smile, you have to break it. You destroy it, and you sincerely cherish it when it’s gone.
As you reach your maximum speed Jimin’s distorted smile subsides and an even more euphoric look spreads. Mouth open wide, drooling down her chin and onto your hand on her throat, eyes open but white. As if she muted herself, Jimin doesn’t even breathe—not only because of your grip, but also the orgasm building up as fast as how you ram her ass. You grin at the sight of Jimin drowning in the sensations her own nerves convey; you create. It kills you how small her body is, when you can witness a simple—yet ruthless—piston to her crotch can dye her whole skin red, travel electrically to everywhere in no time, shrinking every minimal muscle. You release her, she falls down limp on the bed and screams at the anal orgasm hitting her, threatening her consciousness.
“Ahh! Fuck, fuck…!” You’re nowhere far from your own end, either. Your breath shallows down at the crazy tightness of Jimin’s orgasming ass. 
“Jimin, I’m cumming…!” You do. You reach as deep inside her anal cavern as you can and unload your cum, mind blowing pleasure coursing through every corner of your body. You shoot, and shoot, and shoot. Jimin clenches her hole for your cum to be deposited inside her with a lazy hum, in harmony with your groan seeping out of your gritted teeth.
It takes a few minutes for your breaths to find the normal speed. “No one’s fucked my ass this amazing,”
It surely was enough to bring amazement, undoubtedly the best you’ve had so far. You sit up and rearrange her hair for her.
“Did I pay for it?“ Jimin’s already got that bright smile back, and after such an extreme sex your barriers collapse in front of her, as you smile back at her.
“Very much.”
“Can you get my phone? It’s in my skirt.” You head to the pile of discarded clothes and do it for Jimin, who’s sitting on the bed with her head resting on the headboard. You toss it on the bed.
Jimin looks into her phone right away, scrolls down mindlessly and looks at you, who’s naked and standing next to the bed.
“Take a shower first, baby.”
Baby, she said.
Your eyes dart to hers immediately. Your face stays placid but you know Jimin knows you’re not at all used to it. You never really allow any strings attached with the ones you fuck; it’s a rather body-to-body entanglement than something emotional. But you’re surprised at how that word fits comfortably between you two. There’s something different. You look back at Jimin but her attention is taken by her phone already, again like a hit-and-run truck, but not completely as you can see her smirk the way you love. So you just enter the bathroom. 
In the shower you review the past 30 minutes—you had sex with the girl Yoo Jimin: nothing special. But not just that; Jimin has by far the best body of all the other girls you’ve experienced. You can tell you really enjoyed it today. You can tell she’s worthy of continuing the relationship. You like the way Jimin turns from a bubbly, sassy girl in school to a begging, screaming mess in bed under you. And the way she calls you baby—it dulls all your edges like a cup of boiling water would do to an ice cube. Just like the hot water pouring on your head.
You come out of the shower and see Jimin smoking on your bed, sitting on the edge with her legs crossed, elbow on her thigh, still aesthetically naked. She looks gorgeous like that. You walk to her, take the cigarette from her hand to your mouth. Then push her down on the bed, breathe the smoke in deep and throw the shortened cigarette away to the bin next to bed, breathe out, and share a smoky kiss.
A few moments later your rod pokes at her belly and Jimin parts away with a giggle.
“Fuck, I really have to clean my body.” You bring her off the bed with you. “Shut up and get down here,” With a smirk she does, and as soon as she adjusts her legs and position you shove your cock in her mouth. A gag earned.
But after that Jimin takes your big cock pretty well, without gagging or looking uncomfortable, even when her nose crashes on your crotch; you’ve found yourself a perfect girl, indeed.
“Nice.” Her teary eyes never leave yours throughout the session as you pace up for a brief finish. Adjusting to the speed of your cock moving entirely in and out, Jimin’s hands go up to the back of your thighs for firmer grip.
Jimin’s drool tickles down your balls and forms a small puddle on the floor. With the filthiest slurping sound Jimin bobs her head at the beat of your cock sliding through. Whenever her delicate tongue presses onto the underside of your cock you throb inside her mouth, making her head slightly move simultaneously.
Jimin’s tears meet the drool on her chin, and with a sound of her voice from her throat Jimin taps your thighs for you to pull out. You take your cock out of her mouth and slap it on her fucked face a few times, painting her face with her own saliva, to her liking.
“Finish it.”
Put the shower aside, and you shower Jimin with your lust deep into her throat. You feel your legs not far from giving in, but thankfully your cock is just the same, due to what Jimin is doing under you.
“Jimin, I’m-I’m close.”
Jimin starts to fondle your balls and that certainly helps you cross the line. In no time you fill her throat up white, and the room with your satisfied groan.
You look straight into Jimin’s eyes when you cum, and it’s astonishingly reciprocated when she gulps down your load quickly, professionally. As soon as you are done pouring into Jimin she stands up, showing you her clean tongue with a tilt of her head, and heads to the bathroom. You, left alone, giggle quietly and sprawl on the bed after putting on underwear. 
******
“Text me at lunch break. You know where to meet me.” You just nod at Jimin, who’s in one of your T-shirts that is just a little bit big for her; loss of all the buttons on her uniform comes at a cost. An inner beam blooms under your face when you find her just too perfect in that outfit of school skirt with your T-shirt tucked under it. Those unhidden bra lines count as one of many reasons for you to stare at her, take her in your arms right now and-
“Not now, perv.” Her smirk lets yours surface up to reciprocate hers. You stand up from the bed, approach her and walk her backwards to the wall. Jimin has been playful and relaxed with you and you like it. But when you—just like right now—detect submission in her eyes: you love it. You don’t stop your hand from rising up for her neck and have a good grip around it. You don’t stop the other from being pulled away to her gracious tits and squeezing them.
“Not now?” And there are those big eyes begging for you to go further, that bitten lower lip asking for any contact, as if the one who just quipped ‘not now’ choked out. Always hits you differently when she just switches from a brat to a subby mess out of control.
Contradiction is the most normal of things when you have a tight grip over Jimin. Her reddening face gradually forms a thin smirk when your lips close in to hers. Her eyes close, lips part for a mind-numbing kiss—
“Not now.” You make a sudden pull back and release Jimin from your grip. She stumbles and almost collapses on the floor so you hold her in your arms. For the same purpose and then some, her arms rest on your shoulders and pull you in, only to be denied by your hand pushing her chest off of you, leaving Jimin just keeping a hungry gaze at your lips and whimpering “Please.”
You finish tying the necktie, bring your thumb up to her lips. As it sweeps over them Jimin lets her tongue coat your thumb with her saliva which could’ve blended perfectly with yours.
“To the spot at lunch break, Jimin. And ah,” You stand down and pull her panties down in one sway and she helps herself out of them by lifting her legs respectively. You toss it on the bed and rise up again, for your collarbone to match her height, for her to look up at you again.
“You don’t wear the same panties for two days straight, do you?” Jimin just nods quickly and tries to crush her lips on yours yet again. Seems like she wouldn’t care even if you made her go to school all nude, if she could just mix her tongue with yours right now. Her efforts to make you kiss her is visible to you; eyes so seductive yet not able to take themselves off of their foremost target, lips slightly open for her tongue to peek outside. Seeing that you just step back and prepare to leave for school with an unseen smirk.
“Let’s go.”
******
As anticipated, needy and untidy Yoo Jimin sends you a dozen pictures of her bare crotch under her skirt, saying ‘Want your fingers inside’, ‘Can’t wait for the lunch break.’ Those are to be left on read.
Morning classes fly by as the bell rings to announce the lunch break. The class rushes out for lunch, has a race among them with some of them even running like they have something to win. And amongst that crowd you head to the spot, to Yoo Jimin.
She’s there already waiting for you when you turn the last corner. Legs crossed, back on the brick wall and a half-spent cigarette between her lips, looking so delinquent there with that insanely short skirt and in the shirt you gave. She notices you, has a reet smile on her and throws the cigarette on the ground, and watches you approach her standing still. No immaterial words or acts are needed when you can just kiss those lips like they’re yours. The remnant of the cigarette a fume that makes you dive deeper into this trance her tongue and yours are building, you spontaneously get rid of her skirt and are met with the wet skin under it.
Your fingers taste her crotch, slowly rubbing around and poised for any further indulgence. Her hands are, on the other hand, hectic with your buttons and when they’re done they swiftly go down to your belt. Your pants drop to your ankles in no time with your underwear, and with your erect cock emancipated, Jimin detaches from the kiss and spits on your cock and spreads it.
It all happens so fast that you are still enraptured by the kiss and her tits in your palms, leaving so many treats unfelt to your body. The next second you are inside her, making it even headier for you to follow up.
“Fuck, I needed this.” Jimin grits. With no clue of downshifting she takes the shirt off, her bra to follow suit, and hooks her arms around your neck to stand the frantic sex she wants from you. And that happens right away, as your instinct drops the hammer for you to automatically thrust into her even before you find yourself moaning at the sensation of her inside.
You keep your eyes closed while wrecking her pussy despite the eye candy that is Yoo Jimin during sex, and suddenly you notice her teeth on your shoulder. It’s a pain that can make you grin, that can make you savor the feeling, even it gets even stronger, because now you know that when she bites, she cums. Her legs give in, and you know it by the weight of her arms around your neck. Her walls clench harshly and there’s a stream of her juice down your legs when she cums. Yoo Jimin is so tactile, and when she cums her whole body does, for yours to recognize, you don’t even have to hearken to know it. The auditory input hits your brain the last, the pearly, shaky yelp of the orgasming needy girl adds up to all the stimuli you are taking.
When she comes down you slow down, lazily reaching her cervix as she hums at it every time.
“Kiss me, baby.” You do. It’s saccharine to your tongue. Her tongue distraughtly moves around inside your mouth, some of the drool leaking onto her tits to make it even more impeccable. The gustation mesmerizes you into a rabid sex, this time for yourself to get off. No subduing, only upshifts lead the way as you turn her around, put it back in and lavish thrusts into her sex.
“Shit. Jimin, you’re so fucking perfect.” You’re not saying this again because she might not have heard it; you are repeating it like a low-functioning machine because you’re afraid you haven’t said it enough. And she can condone it—of course she can, it’s a compliment anyway—because she knows it already, because the feeling’s mutual. You say it several more times on the back of her neck, almost making it a tattoo, carving it in intaglio. Still deranged, Jimin is just screaming with her back arching to the sky and carotically facing the brick wall with her left cheek. The right side of her face is rosed up, and her eye has a glimpse of you, your wry face and the sweat-coated torso and shuts and she cums just like that. 
Her breaths are shallow, irregular, a gusty fluid squelches out of her pussy and the scene of her orgasm is intimidating your endurance, easily sending you to an orgasmic stupor and making you spurt out inside her with a gritted groan. 
“Jimin, I… God, fuck…!” To your overstimulated cock Jimin has her shrewd tongue on it, sealed with her lips. Makes your legs wobble, unmercifully agitating your mind with frenzy, but just until she clears your shaft up clean from the tabloid juices all over it.
“I loved it. Maybe we should make it daily.” Jimin rises up, with her skirt and your shirt in her hands and still breathing somewhat heavily. And the desecrated smile on her face is the coercion for you to wear one too, a copacetic one. Shirt on, a smoking cigarette between your fingers, you insinuate to her.
“Your panties are still on my bed, you know.” And she’s shrewd with it—has been from the very beginning—and purrs. “Mhmm, I’m going to go fetch it after school with you.”
Of course, is what your nods that follows says, and there’s my girl, says your zest-filled grin, looking at her back that walks out of the corner. It’s always that intrinsic sass you could simply, so simply kill for. Maybe a challenge for you, maybe a finesse for you to be benumbly trapped into. It’s your choice, and from some point on the latter looks dazzling to you; maybe you’re a person who just dyes so well, to a derogated girl who seemed to have taken everything you’ve given but turns out she just put you in the phantasma of her own stardust without you realizing it—you’ve lost it in her, somehow. And that’s bizarre: and you love it.
******
You’re standing at the bus stop, hands in your pocket and looking around to find your girl. When you do, you’re so surprised at how Jimin so stands out among all the crowd while doing nothing but just walk. Even from miles out you’re sure you’ll spot her in a second. The belle of the crowd, wherever she is. She’s not the tallest but still piques herself on her to-die-for aura like she blurs everyone out. As if she sensed the scrutiny, Jimin looks up from her phone, looks around and soon finds you looking at her. You hate to be seen so infatuated like this but you can’t help it, as your eyes meet hers and your face brightens up, half from seeing her and half at yourself caught like that.
“That happy to see me?” You don’t answer, just bring your hands to her crotch and check there’s no underwear blocking your way. A flick over her uncovered pussy earns you a shocked look.
“This is not your bedroom!” Jimin shouts in whisper, but not with caution, but an intrigued grin with eyes darting around the crowd waiting for the bus.
“Are you telling me to stop?” You take your fingers to her mouth, her tongue welcoming the taste of horniness coated all over your fingers. “I’m telling you not to stop.”
So your hand returns to her pussy. You’re rubbing, tapping on and hooking your fingers in, Jimin bites on her own fingers not to relinquish her scream. You hold her trembling body as steady as possible but you know that it’ll be absolutely normal if the people around you realize that you two are having a little fun explicitly in public. Everyone’s looking at you and Jimin in front of you, facing the same way as you and receiving that dirty fingering amongst so many audiences.
In a few minutes the bus is here, to show you only one vacant seat left. You take the seat and Jimin sits on your lap, facing backwards and hugging your neck. You resume the unholy yet entertaining fingering to the pretty moaning girl on your lap.
And you return to who you really are: you’re a gentleman yourself, with etiquette, with common decency, to pull Jimin’s head down on your shoulder to muffle her nasty sound on it. You know even the driver is looking at you through the mirror, but that’s because of her, not you; again, you’re making no noise, and Jimin in your embrace is the culprit of all the squeaky, watery, moaning noise, not you. 
“Quiet, Jimin.” Now her teeth dig into your skin, synchronizing with your fingers indulging into her wet, tight hole. You know what you’re doing won’t shut her up. You’re just saying it, a formality. Inside your mind you want her to moan loudly, at the same time want to see her struggle keeping it quiet. So you yank her hair back to watch her distorted face, observe every tiny wriggle of her expression.
“Ah…!” Look into her eyes as if wanting to pierce through them. Jimin looks at you too, flooding with lust, drowning in her own sensations of sex and embarrassment of being exposed in such a public situation. “I’m almost there.” It’s a plain text but she’s begging there. She says she’s almost there but she’s already there, as it seems.
“Yeah, we’re almost there.” A bump on the road makes your fingers hit her spot, makes her back arc, makes her almost, almost lose it right there. You pull out your fingers from her hot cavern to the relatively cool air of the bus. Her liquid feels fresh out in the air but that feeling is soon lost, by her tongue wrapping them up and sucking it clean—suckling it dirty.
The bus stops right then for only you and Jimin to get off. It’s much quieter than inside the bus, partially due to you not fingerfucking her anymore. In no time you’re at the door of your house, unlock it, swing open and it slams shut. Simultaneously Jimin hops on you and dive into your mouth with hers. You stumble through to your bedroom, toss her on the bed, swiftly undo your belt and pants with your boxers, let your already hard dick spring out but don't let it feel the air as it vanishes into Jimin’s waiting pussy right away.
No one speaks a word. No one can, to be fair. You two are merely inches away from dying, too impatient to wait another second. And there you let Jimin approach death a bit closer by holding her neck around, a perfect necklace for her, and straining your hand. Jimin’s mouth is open, difficulty in breathing so visible, face reddening but there’s still her hunger in it; she grins. Her smile is so cruel, violent, so evil yet joyful, as if she’s the victimizer and you’re the victim.
“Please, baby… Kill me. Fucking choke me to death, please, choke me and kill me-fuck!” You make her scream when you slap her tits, as if you were angry at her, but you’re the opposite—you love her so much that you just want to abuse her, to her liking, just like right now. All her sensations seem to evaporate as her eyes roll back and her hands drop to her sides spiritlessly: or, airlessly. You let her go, not wanting to actually kill her.
With a giant inhale Jimin returns from the border of unconsciousness. Her hands travel from her own tits, your hands, and soon back to the sheets, still wandering in need for anything to release the tension. So you pin down her wrists and pace up your thrusts.
“Fuck, Jimin. Don’t tempt me. You make me really want to fuck you dead.” You’re saying it right on her face, which enables her to feel that you mean it. There she tries to kiss your lips, but you pull back with agility, instead covering her mouth and nose with your palm, again suffocating her to your liking, to your loving, to your abnormal, psychopathic obsession.
“I want to see you struggle for life. I want to see you beg for life. You’ll look so perfect like that.” Jimin screams into your hand, covers it with her saliva and tears. You close in with your other hand groping her tit and your cock hitting everywhere inside her squeezing cunt. Jimin’s eyes widen as her orgasm fades in, muffling “I’m cumming!” Several times on your palm before peaking like never before. Her orgasm never gives her the time to even shut her eyes as they roll into her head. Her scream penetrates your hand over her mouth as it departs on your ears so deliciously.
That’s what psychopaths do, isn’t it? To experience the catharsis washing over your spine and get off with how a person screams, all helpless, with tears, shallow breaths as if soon going to die, or at least pass out. Maybe it’s that she’s making it clear about who you are. Would be a pleasure to embrace it.
And it’s your turn now. You pull out, escaping Jimin’s spent pussy with quite an amount of her squirt, leaving her all trembling and arching. There’s a layer of sweat all over her body and it makes it look like a scene from any pornography. Jimin doesn’t move a bit-only her chest is heavily healing up and down, even after you flip her upside down.
You tease her asshole with your middle finger and when she senses it enter she helps you by spreading her cheeks for deeper insertion. No resistance in and out of her ass. Every curl inside her ass makes Jimin squeeze her own cheeks as a response with a powerless moan. “Mmm, fuck me please… I’m not done yet.” Of course. You grin and prepare your cock for the second entrance as you pull Jimin up on all fours. Her arms give up when you rub your glistening cock on her pussy lips. And her reason gives up when you penetrate her rear hole.
“Ahh-fuck yes!”
“Holy fuck. This is so tight.” Her tightness erases your patience to savor it slowly. You start ruining her ass with the intention of actually destroying it. Jimin frowns, loud moan seeping through the bitten lip, hands curling into fists but arms all powerless on her sides.
“It’s so good, it’s so fucking good…! Don’t stop it baby. Make me cum like a fucking whore…!” Her voice can’t even get louder when her words just melt on the mattress just like her. Her words turn to nothings, eyes squeeze shut, concentrating all her senses to where she’s getting fucked. You feel your eyelids become heavier every single thrust, but the visual pleasure is just too good to give up watching it-her ass up for you to fuck it senseless, narrow waist contrasting her wide hips so aesthetically. The cherry on top is the expressions on her gorgeous face which you can’t quite read. Just like when all colors mixed makes pitch-black, her facial wrinkles and twitches are the perfect mixture of all pleasure, ecstasy that you can’t tell what she’s feeling at this moment.
“Nngh!” Actually, you can. Jimin is orgasming so hard, clear—dirty—liquid pumping out of her empty pussy to flood the mattress. Her ass squeezes your cock too hard for you to move in and out as fast as before without blasting every drop in her climaxing ass hole.
So you park it deep in her contracting hole, stay there, and shut Jimin’s moaning mouth with yours. She doesn’t care—or she doesn't acknowledge—and keeps screaming for her life even after her peak has washed over. A few dozen seconds pass, she calms down to at least breathe regularly when you stand your torso up to resume the session.
“You… You have to cum…” As if she even cares for you instead of her own pleasure. You know she just wants more overwhelming orgasm only you can deliver, and you are no different. There’s something about this body, these tits, the voice, this face, this pussy, this ass; there really is something about Yoo Jimin. Without your knowledge you are humping her like a villain, mad, but with a grin that’s so dangerous that Jimin mirrors. Your hand already made itself home around her neck, a red mark of it pressing hard inevitable, tears rolling down along her side face.
“I’m going to fill you up, Jimin.” And with a sharp inhale you begin wrecking her inside. A gut-rearranging pounding is what her perfect ass deserves and she can’t even open her eyes properly-either one stays closed against her will, rolling up to see that there’s nothing inside her head.
“Fuck! Please, please, please, please… Gah, I’m- Again…!” How impatient. There’s not even a point for you to call a flaw. Immoral, impatient, vulgar, dirty… She’s all too perfect. And you’re sure that’s why you cum so hard, like never before.
A nasty pair of voices fill each other’s brain as you two cum. You lower your body, forehead on hers and eyes on hers, looking through those teary orbs as you feel yourself bursting out gregariously. No words but loud pants bridge your sensations to each other, and until the last spurt you don’t even blink in order to see Jimin go through her own orgasm.
That’s it; it’s been your undesirable sadistic desire that kept you on fire, and when you have saturated it it flips out of your head, making it empty—there hasn’t been anything other than that. When you’re done completely you let Jimin go from your glare, sit on the edge next to her gasping body. Your urge is swept off so cleanly, and you can see how dirty it was by the mess on your bed.
“Are you alright?” You ask, but looking up at the ceiling, not Jimin. You don’t turn your head but can already sense her looking at you. “You’re just so perfect.” Selfishly she doesn’t answer. And you hear the smirk in her words. You make one on your face too, hearing that, stand up, face her and find Jimin overloading your vision with how she gorgeously lies down there, making even all the nasty things complement her perfection.
“I’ll shower. Just don’t fall asleep on the bed. It’s dirty.” You tell Jimin, all helpless and powerless on the bed and panting like she just had the best sex in her life. The lustful girl who was begging for you to kill her is nowhere to be found; instead there’s a weak, short of breath, vulnerable and lithe angelic devil with your cum gushing out of her ass. As if a few more touches and she’d actually evaporate.
In the shower you barely feel the water on your body, so distracted by your own thoughts—your own thoughts but in the grabs of Yu Jimin. The exact same as yesterday, you are showering yourself with your shocked, strange feelings in the shower after sex that simply blew your mind.
It's just that she's too good. Too good to call it a hook-up, too good to make it only an occasional sex. The way she craves your cock, the way she begs for your violence, the way she’s so desperate for extreme orgasms under your hold. It’s the first time for you to smile just by thinking of a girl, especially when you’re such a harsh and rough type of a person even you’d admit. She’d let you hit her. She’d let you choke her, let you fuck her, destroy her—let you love her.
Then the door opens, a small, pale figure of female comes in, walks slowly through the mist of the hot water. Jimin stops in front of you, legs barely holding there, face buried on your chest and her arms locked around your neck to support her lithe body but they barely do. You move a little backward to let her more of the hot water.
As if all the water got into your veins, you feel your heart burn. Just look at her—legs all wobbly, barely standing, too exhausted to even look up at you, her hands at the back of your neck irregularly stroking the back of your head as if signaling she’s at least perceiving things properly. You put a hand on her back and spread the water on it, and that’s when she lifts her head and meets your eyes. 
Weak and lethargic like a candlelight in front of a tsunami, Jimin is barely standing there with low moans whenever her legs wobble and give up. Her arms tighten around your neck as one of yours hug her back so that she doesn’t collapse. Her face is right beneath yours, tilted up to face yours. Those eyes can’t avoid looking at your lips, which is just what you’re doing to her unashamedly.
Your hand climbs up to the back of her head. Regardless of that you and Jimin are exchanging such a strong yet soft, intense yet loving eyelock. It is an atypically genial moment and if you look back at this moment you might throttle yourself. She should know it by now, from the visible, audible changes on you. 
(Maybe you were afraid. Or beyond that. Love was what your fears were afraid of. Doesn’t quite make sense to say that you have fears, but anyways, you didn’t want, nor expect a couple nights to escalate to an actual romance.)
Minutes pass, and pass, and—and pause, when you pull her a bit into your arms and make a soundless, yet seismic kiss. Lips lock. Two pairs of lips open and a pair of tongues make contact, hug each other just like you two. Her hands snake into your hair, your head in her hands and deeper into the kiss. You two have even forgotten to breathe as the liplock continues for what feels like a lifetime, to complete the kiss of your life. When you try to pull back Jimin lunges a bit forward not to break the kiss, and you let your system suffocate a few dozen seconds more. 
“You’re so beautiful, Yu Jimin.” You finally tell her this. Not the literal confession of love but she gets it with the bewitching smile she always wears like nothing. Never been in love, you feel like you’re sent back to childhood, pure and intact, but that feeling is shattered into pieces when her hand finds your hardened cock poking at her belly.“Is that why you’re so hard, baby?” This time, the word ‘baby’ sounds so right with a lip bite of your lover and with a lust-filled grin on you. Her thumb slides on the underside of the tip, almost making you stumble back.
“Yes. Just like you’re always horny because of me.”  With a smirk you turn her around, bend her over so that her hands are on the wall, and put your cock in in one stroke. Jimin helplessly loses all the strength in her legs and falls but you're prudential enough not to let her. It's to the point where she's just hanging from your arms when you kindle the movement. Her skin looks even more satin with the water so you collar her and go on. You can't stop when the biggest impetus is jonesing for it. No choice but to harden the grip on her throat.
Jimin is flaccid on the wall, fingers fumbling on and desperately digging themselves on it with her head facing down. You are never going to unbind her until she falls into a stupor. “Baby I… I fucking love it so deep…! Use me just like that…” She can't let it out loud and soon loses all voice, raises her head, brings yours right beside hers and kisses you. And a feeling that this is the requital for your disclosure makes it compulsory to reciprocate it poignantly. Her hand guides one of yours to her tits, pushes it hard on it to make you squeeze them and soon the convulsions agitate through her body. Her orgasmic screams reverberate through your throat, which is also moaning out of the pleasure congesting your mind. 
When the kiss breaks her yelps stifle the smacking and squelching. You have no idea if it’s your heartiness or just overstimulation from before the shower, but her voice sounds so giddy she might just hit the floor all limp. The burgeoning pleasure conglomerates into a derogated vertigo, the unbearable sensations stack up in your spines and Jimin’s wringing walls really doesn’t help you push it down. Her eyes tell you—because her mouth can’t right now—she’s only a couple thrusts away from coming undone, tantamount to what’s threatening to blow your mind, break down your nerves.
“I’m coming, I’m coming, I’m fucking coming…!” A tautology that is so understandable. You help her, add to the pleasure by choking her. Her moans permeate to your hand through her throat and the foul secretion of her orgasm flows down her legs with the water pelting down on your bodies. Jimin fumbles on the wall with her fingers, too herring-gutted to digest the deray.
“Jimin. Yu Jimin. I’m coming too-fuck…!” When Jimin hears her name she hums, and when she feels the warmth coat her walls she buckles, arches her back to beckon your lips and jockeys her tongue between them. In less than a minute however she pulls back, due to lack of air, because of your chokehold, and pants in your face, with a pejorative smile, but no sign of mannerism—you all know, that smile that follows after an exquisite sex—her sheer feelings carved in it, and you willingly mirror it as a beck of mutuality.
******
A rather huge thing is settled. Sitting on the edge of the bed together, with a cigarette between your fingers for each, you recount your history: the reason you moved, your personality, your sex life being like this. All of them, however, converge to her, Yu Jimin, weirdly enough for you who just can’t concede any feelings involved, which sounds like a monolithic psychopath which actually might be who you are.
Well, a little bit of romance couldn’t kill, could it? You think, lying next to Jimin and slowly closing your eyes to fall-
“You haven’t said it yet.”
“Say what?”
“You only said I’m beautiful.”
“And?”
“I know there’s something more. You know there’s something more.”
There you fail to hold out the chuckle.
“I don’t know what you’re-“
“It’s okay, baby. You don’t have to be shy about it,”
Jimin mischievously giggles. You know you can’t just laugh it off, and you won’t. That intricate feeling that tickles, but is not transient.
With a somnolent voice, you placidly say, like a tagline of a tragedy—or a comedy.
“Love you, Jimin.”
Her grin infiltrates her words hearing it.
“That’s it, my boy. Love you too.”
******
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djarins-cyare · 1 year
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✭ Series Masterlist ✭
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Languishing in a dull and lonely existence on the forest moon of Endor after travelling there to help salvage Death Star wreckage, a nearly fatal encounter with a mysterious bounty hunter out in the forest heralds an opportunity to utilise long-forgotten skills and develop something more profound than you ever thought possible.
Second person POV, present tense. Set post-season 2, diverges from Canon events before TBoBF and season 3. This is a novel-length, exceptionally slow burn with an original plot, worldbuilding, and fully-developed characterisation. SWU concepts and lore are accurately researched.
WORDS: 406,560
PAIRING: Din Djarin x Female Reader/You
RATING: Explicit (18+)
CHARACTERS: Din Djarin, Reader/You/Female OC, Original Non-Human Character(s), Original Human Characters, Greef Karga, Cara Dune, Leia Organa, Luke Skywalker, Grogu, Peli Motto
TAGS: Slow Burn, Slow Build, Romance, Love, Sexual Tension, Eventual Smut, Smut, Sex, Sexual Content, Explicit Sexual Content, Fluff, Fluff and Smut, Fluff and Angst, Light Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Relationships, Healthy Relationships, Canon-Typical Violence, Blood and Injury, Dark Past, Additional Warnings In Author's Notes, Bounty Hunter Din Djarin, Soft Din Djarin, Touch-Starved Din Djarin, Din Djarin Needs a Hug, Smart Din Djarin, Soft Dominant Din Djarin, Ewok Species, Mandalorian Culture, Mando'a Language, New Razor Crest, Thoroughly Researched, Worldbuilding, No use of y/n.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This took me almost a year to write and four months to edit/proof. Each chapter is prefaced with specific tags and (where necessary) warnings, plus word counts. End notes contain translations and comments… this baby is thoroughly researched, so I’m sharing context where appropriate. I’ve also added definitions of in-universe terms so people less familiar with the franchise won’t be left wondering what the hell certain words or references mean. This is a slow burn (adult themes), and although the explicit content only occurs in the latter half, when it does, it warrants the ‘E’ rating. Basically, the first half is a love story, and the second half gets spicy. I hope you enjoy it!
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READ THE COMPLETE STORY ON AO3:
(Chapters containing explicit content marked †)
Chapter 1: The Obstacle
Chapter 2: The Interrogation
Chapter 3: The Covenant
Chapter 4: The Snare
Chapter 5: The Strike
Chapter 6: The Groundwork
Chapter 7: The Genesis
Chapter 8: The Progression
Chapter 9: The Hide
Chapter 10: The Beast
Chapter 11: The Adjustment
Chapter 12: The Storm
Chapter 13: The Broadside
Chapter 14: The Intercourse
Chapter 15: The Village
Chapter 16: The Confession
Chapter 17: The Reprieve
Chapter 18: The Fortification
Chapter 19: The Ambush
Chapter 20: The Meridian
Chapter 21: The Homestretch
Chapter 22: The Union †
Chapter 23: The Overture
Chapter 24: The Crescendo
Chapter 25: The Harmony †
Chapter 26: The Cadence †
Chapter 27: The Ride †
Chapter 28: The Veneration †
Chapter 29: The Spree †
Chapter 30: The Tribute †
Chapter 31: The Courage
Chapter 32: The Feast
Chapter 33: The Exhibition †
Chapter 34: The Reward
Chapter 35: The Binding †
Chapter 36: The Synergy †
Chapter 37: The Match †
Chapter 38: The Flag †
Chapter 39: The Foundling †
Chapter 40: The Future †
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✨Additional Media✨
@burntheedges has written a spectacular little drabble detailing what Din was up to during the paragraph break near the end of chapter 1 (*SPOILERS* you don’t find this out until chapter 27).
@roughdaysandart has sketched a fantastic study of chapter 33 and it’s absolutely perfect (*SPOILERS* cliffhanger ending for the chapter).
@djarin-desires has created some awesome AI images of a few scenes using Midjourney.
I spent a stupid amount of money on the Hot Toys official Din Djarin action figure, simply so I could photograph him in poses from my fic 🤷🏼‍♀️ This is just a taster of what’s to come, but here he is offering to help Reader climb onto the speeder in chapter 8.
🧡💚 Thank you for reading! 💚🧡
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➤ MAIN MASTERLIST
Dividers by @samspenandsword
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Till' death do us apart.
Pairing: Angel Y/n x Alastor Fandom: Hazbin Hotel Warning: Biblical nonsense. :}
Masterlist –– Next chapter
So this was caused by the absolute brain rot my love for the series has given me, 40% of the text I got it from the transcript of the first episode Overture, and Michael's text was brought by Hazbin Hotel: Journey to the Light, shoutout to the creator. It's a one time thing as to bring this sort of prologue.
As always, the characters mostly belong to Vivienne Medrano, and it is a fanfiction with no intention of offending anyone.
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Prologue
At the beginning, Heaven rose from the light of creation, it´s golden glow soon was to be known though out existence. It was ruled by beings of pure light, Angels that worshiped good and shielded the world from all evil.
Samael was one of the first angels. He was a dreamer with delusional ideas for all of creation, for this, he was seen as a menace. The elders of Heaven were brought to the conclusion that his way of thinking was dangerous to the order of their world.
The straw that broke the camel's back was when its creation, the forbidden fruit was placed in the hands of a mortal woman, this made the high command make the decision to banish Samael from heaven, causing the creation of the demonic place known years later as Hell.
The word 'Hell' was derived from an Anglo-Saxon word hellia, that meant wicked or evil.
Samael’s wife, the first human woman ever created, Lilith, thrived with the decision. After being banished along with her husband, she empowered demon-kind with her voice and her songs. And as the numbers of Hell grew, so did its power.
To say Heaven was threatened by that fact was an understatement, according to the paperwork Adam - the first human man and soul to enter heaven – left, I was able to discover that the overpopulation was being handled through an extermination, a massive genocide is a correct termination. What I found interesting, was that the procedure ruled out hell-born beings, no exceptions, and no precedents of any contract with Samael or any form of power known to rule in hell.
To think Adam’s heart was so big that he decided to condemn only human souls, sparing “innocent” hell-born beings, is moronic. But as soon as I started to leave my obligations unattended to uncover the mystery of the excess of blood in the hands of the high command, my actions were noticed by Michael, the archangel of light.
“Demons... It seems as if I can never catch them all and destroy them, and their numbers continue to expand, corrupting the minds of mortals” he scoffed, picking up his cup of tea, “That’s no reason to go down and take their lives, if you’re so concerned about them corrupting mortals, shut down their access to portals-“ he interrupted me hitting the table hard, breaking the saucer on which he placed the cup, his voice became distorted and his eyes widened around his head, trying to intimidate me.
“They are sinful beasts who rejected our light so we help remove them from it and keep them in the shadows of Hell. We allow them to live, an example of the angel's merciful will, but their population must be... controlled, until they cease being an annoying, persistent thorn in the side of our family” he hissed.
“Our family, was pushed down a hole and since then, no one, not even you, has tried to establish any contact, don’t you think it’s almost an insult that Adam saw Samael before us? Because I do”
“You seem to have a clouded judgement” he adjusted his glasses with a stern movement.
“It’s as clear as ever, I go to earth, I see the souls go either up or dragged down, you’re the one that is clouded because you haven’t witnessed any of their pain”  my blood boiled causing my aura to manifest around me.
“Watch your words” he warned, his eyes flaring in a blue from of flame.
“I can't wait for him to find out, and what will be worse for you, is that everyone will know that you agreed to this from the beginning” I snickered, it was wrong to provoked him, but I felt as if I had the upper hand on him.
I wish someone had warned me of how wrong I was.
“You were the only “no” that day, you were the only one to try to defend his ideas” he thought out loud.
“So?” I asked confused, reaching for the door.
There was a shrill sound, the next thing I knew, I felt a horrible pain in my back, also heat, the air was humid and hot, a smell of blood between fresh and thousands of years old. I don't know how long I was face down in the dirt, I was only able to get up when the pain stopped enough and I was able to move to dry my tears. The dry, arid land under my hands and the sign in front of me confirmed my suspicions.
Son of a bitch had thrown me into Hell.
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wintrwinchestr · 11 months
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all of my works contain explicit smut, 18+ only please!!
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oneshots
bad girl
pairing: joel miller x f!reader
summary: you broke one of joel's rules, and he punishes you for it. but he can never stay disappointed with you for long, not when all you wanna do is be his good girl.
word count: 1.6k
lather
pairing: joel miller x f!reader
summary: you decide to try shaving your pussy for the first time on your first night settling into jackson with joel. he accidentally nicks you while helping you shave, but he makes sure to kiss it all better <3
word count: 2.9k
fucksgiving 2023
pairing: joel miller x f!reader
warnings: 18+, dirty talk with almost zero plot, daddy kink (no one is surprised), boyfriend's dad!joel, light choking, petnames, degredation, allusion to smut
word count: 332
an overture of indulgence
pairing: joel miller x f!reader
summary:it's been a long time since you've seen joel, and some things have changed, but a lot has stayed the same.namely, how quickly he can still get you on his knees for him, ready to show him exactly just how much you like what has changed about him.
word count: 4.3k
mini series
obedience
part 1 | part 2
pairing: joel miller x f!reader
summary: you and joel experiment with a newly unlocked kink that requires some obedience training.
strangers
pairing: dark!serial killer!joel miller x f!reader
summary: after you run away from home, you meet a handsome stranger who offers you a ride, a meal, and a bed. but you know what they say—don’t talk to strangers, or you might fall in love. and this particular stranger has a very dark secret.
series
the killer & the sound
pairing: rockstar!joel miller x f!reader
fic warnings (other warnings by chapter): 18+, smut, no outbreak au, vaguely set in the 80's/90's, daddy kink, dom!joel, sub!reader, f & m masturbation, age gap (reader is early 20's, joel is mid-50's), praise kink, religious trauma/shame, angst, toxic relationship dynamics, smoking, drinking, daddy & mommy issues...
my art
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Fanfiction Masterlist!
Total fics: 32
Total word count: 330k
Updated: July 8th, 2024
(under the cut for length!)
newest fics have asterisks **
A Little Gold Goes a Long Way, 168k
Will Graham struggles with heroin addiction. His unending seek for peace sends him into Hannibal's arms. Can Will and Hannibal reach tranquility, or will their violent nature tear them to pieces?
Vilkatas, 18k (werewolf Hannibal)
Will finds another stray on the side of the road, but it quickly becomes more than simply adding him to the pack. The lines between man and beast and monster become blurred.
The Pulse That Sustains You, 18k (MCD, but trust me)
One of them dies, and the survivor has to cope.
What the Wind Carries, 4k
Hannibal has a nightmare about Mischa and he smokes to cope
First of Many, 2.2k
Hannibal and Will share their first kiss
Smut/NSFW:
Fever, 3k
Will is sick and begs Hannibal to take care of him
Bound, 2.7k
Will Graham is tied to a chair and Hannibal sates his hunger.
Breathe, 2.5k
Will gives Hannibal a very enthusiastic blowjob
Appetite, 3.8k
Will is needy and bratty and demands Hannibal stop cooking him dinner to sate him
To Be Seen, 5.8k
Will goes to Hannibal in distress and gets relief he didn't expect
In the Depths of the Other, 23k
After the fall, Will struggles with his feelings for Hannibal and a lifetime of telling him that a love like this could, should, never be.
Let Your Tongue Taste Salvation, 27k
Father Hannibal Lecter has his faith tested and torn when a troubled stranger walks into his church seeking reprieve.
Through My Eyes, 10k
Hannibal wants Will too see himself as Hannibal sees him, and the favor is returned.
The Blood on My Lips is Yours, 7.6k
Will and Hannibal get into a fight and fuck after
Revved Up, 4.8k
Hannibal watches Will fix the car and gets turned on
Overture, 7.1k
Hannibal takes Will to the opera and shenanigans ensue
Instinct, 5.3k
Hannibal gives Will an anatomy lesson and teaches him what he and his mouth were built for (fingers in mouth)
Smoking Ficlet Series (Complete!)
(based off this post)
My Exception, 1.6k
Will is the only person Hannibal lets smoke in the house
Third Store in a Storm, 1.6k
Hannibal preferentially smokes clove cigarettes for the symbolism, and Will readily indulges him
A Flame For Trembling Hands, 1.1k
Will loses time and finds himself at Hannibal's office. His nerves get the better of him and Hannibal lends a hand.
Surprise Inside, <1k
Hannibal gets mad when Will repeatedly leaves cigarettes in his pockets on laundry day until Will leaves Hannibal a little surprise
A Shared Flame, <1k
In the hustle of fixing up their new house in the quiet countryside, Will misplaces his lighter and has to rely on Hannibal to help him
By Candlelight, 1.1k
Will and Hannibal share a cigarette in the bath, admiring each other and cherishing the body beside them
Circle of Indulgences, <1k
Will and Hannibal share the classic cigarette after sex
Pearlescence, 1.1k
Hannibal gives Will a gift for his birthday
As Autumn Creeps, 1k
Will performs smoke tricks to distract the psychiatrist in Hannibal from prying into what's bothering him
Stunning Performance, <1k
Will relishes in watching Hannibal kill someone, a work of art in motion, while smoking a cigarette, and then rewards Hannibal by lighting his own cigarette for him
Nourish a Habit, <1k
Once lift after the fall settles down, Hannibal adopts a new hobby of growing and curing his own tobacco to sate his and Will's indulgences
Blowing Smoke, 1.6k
Will and Hannibal get stranded during a storm and decide to wrestle each other for the last cigarette
**First Frolic of Spring, <1k
Will and Hannibal sit on the porch and smoke together as they watch the dogs enjoy running around in their yard for the first time since winter original HHB post
art a friend made of HHB <3
**Practice and Patience, <1k
Hannibal teaches Will how to play the theremin
**Guiding Light of Ember, 2k
Will has a nightmare about their dive from the cliff into the sea and smokes to cope while Hannibal soothes his fears and trembling hands
tips are greatly appreciated <3
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Sports AU's: A Shadowgast Rec List
This week, we have Sports AU's! Check under the cut for 9 fics that feature a wide range of sports, and don't forget to comment and kudos if you like them!
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When the Lights Go Out by 06151126 (27309, Teen) Reccer's Content Notes: No Content Notes
Essek is a Formula One racecar driver. Caleb signs on to be one of his mechanics
Reccer says: I know nothing about F1 but I'm still incredibly invested in this series
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3 Turn by MithrilWren (7290, General) Reccer's Content Notes: No Content Notes
Figure Skating AU: Essek tries to get to know the new competitor Caleb Widogast, but with every bit of new information the man seems like more of an enigma.
Reccer says: I love the way the Essek POV is written, very insightful and curious.
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overture: excerpts from a curtain rising by hanap (5091, Teen) Reccer's Content Notes: No Content Notes
Caleb accompanies Yasha to the make-or-break performance of Beau's career, only to find himself captivated by Beau's new partner - Essek.
Reccer says: A beautiful work. Reading this feels like actually watching a ballet performance.
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Shapes in the Smoke by Luckyowlsfoot (2817, General) Reccer's Content Notes: No Content Notes
The Mighty Nein are invited to a Dynasty performance. It's not quiet what they were expecting.
Reccer says: I Liked It!
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Dancing Cheek to Cheek by soot_and_salt (3871, Mature) Reccer's Content Notes: No Content Notes
Essek Thelyss is a prodigy at ballroom dancing. But he's tired of the competitions until he meets another dancer - named Caleb Widogast.
Reccer says: It's a wonderful, emotional work about two people stumbling upon each other.
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gloaming’s end by toneofjoy (41065, Explicit) Reccer's Content Notes: Choose Not to Warn
Bren wants to be the professional rock-climber the Ceberus Assembly always wanted him to be. Essek already is the most successful climber, and Bren can't help but be captivated by him.
Reccer says: Another beautiful look in the world of climbing - Bren and Essek have a unique dynamic and the world building is amazing.
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The following fic had 3 recs:
I’ve been lost before (and I’m lost again, I guess) by toneofjoy (165080, Explicit) Reccer's Content Notes: There are discussions of doping, eating disorders, chronic illnesses, PTSD, past hospital-related and medical trauma, past psychological and physical abuse, suicidal ideation, and past dubious consent,
A professional rock climbing AU: Essek ran away from his problems and settled in the seaside city of Nicodranas. When Caleb Widogast joins their team at the Tidepeak rock-climbing gym, everything changes. Caleb has plans to take down his old coaches, and Essek has secrets.
Reccer 1 says: Compelling character dynamics all around, great development arcs, and cool mapping of canon onto an AU premise.
Reccer 2 says: The world-building and character development are amazing and one can't help falling in love with climbing through this fic, because it is so well fleshed out. Reccer 3 says: it’s THE Climbing AU. this fic made me laugh, cry and watch 30 min analysis videos of rock climbing.
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The following fic also had 3 recs: song of the moment by 2manyboys (6143, Teen) Reccer's Content Notes: No Content Notes
The Thelyss brothers are amazing ice hockey players. Caleb and Beau go to a game to make money, and the brothers are a safe bet. They meet, and the Empire sibs want to start playing as well.
Reccer 1 says: so fair it’s only one chapter but i’m so so interested in the world building and alternative hockey rules + magic! and politics! Reccer 2 says: There's an amazing amount of worldbuilding in here while still keeping the general shape of Exandria in it. I was instantly hooked.
Reccer 3 says: The worldbuilding is incredible. The details of the sport, incorporating both magic and physical moves, are so neat. Love seeing Essek and Verin interact. Caleb is so horny about how Essek is using magic during the game. Chef kiss, amazing.
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And there were 2 recs for the following fic: Uncharted Waters by empressofwizards (11598, Teen) Reccer's Content Notes: None
Essek Thelyss has one goal at the Olympics: to win. After hours and hours spent in the pool training, there is nothing that will distract him from grabbing gold. Or so he thought. The intriguing swimmer from the Empire might prove otherwise.
Reccer 1 says: I liked it!
Reccer 2 says: I liked it!
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Aeor is for Lovers is an 18+ Shadowgast Discord server. The above fanfic recommendations were pulled from our community for this weekly event. All fics, unless otherwise specified, will primarily feature Shadowgast. Have any questions about what this is? Check out the FAQ! Next week, we’ll be back with fics that feature rumblecusp/travelercon!
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thenightling · 1 year
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How 80s Rock (and rock in general) influenced The Sandman
Okay, this is a list that has been mostly confirmed.  I won’t add speculation like “Robert Smith is the basis for Morpheus’s hair.” or “Peter Murphy is the basis for Morpheus.”  This will only contain things that have been confirmed in various sources.  Lucifer - Meant to look and sound like David Bowie circa 1969. (Confirmed multiple times by Neil Gaiman.  In fact Michael Sheen is doing a David Bowie impersonation while voicing Lucifer for The Sandman audio drama adaptation.  Neil Gaiman has even said that Gwendoline Christie looks more like David Bowie than Tom Ellis does.)  
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Death of The Endless - Originally Neil wanted her to resemble Nico but she ended up looking like the Cinnamon Hadley instead.  In The Sandman Overture, according to J. H. Williams III, his depiction of Death is meant to resemble Siouxsie of Siouxsie and the Banshees.
John Constantine - Though not an original creation of Neil Gaiman (first created by Alan Moore), John Constantine was supposed to have resembled rock star, Sting.  (roughly 1985 look.)
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Desire of The Endless - Desire was, at least partly, inspired by the Duran Duran album cover Rio. The cover was painted by Patrick Nagel and designed by Malcolm Garrett.  When Neil was starting out as a writer one of the first things he wrote was a book on Duran Duran. 
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Another inspiration for Desire came from Annie Lennox’s look for the music video “Sweet Dreams (are made of this).”   Ironic considering the title.   
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Delirium of The Endless - Though Neil Gaiman did not meet Tori Amos until after he had created Delirium, he insists that Delirium was somehow inspired by Tori Amos.
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Men of Good Fortune - The issue / Chapter of The Sandman called Men of Good Fortune is named after a song by Lou Reed. Sunday Morning - The issue / Chapter called Sunday Morning is also named after a Lou Reed (Velvet Underground) song.  So that is two Hob Gadling chapters named for Lou Reed Songs. Beginning to see the Light - The Sandman: A game of You issue / chapter named Beginning to see the Light is also named for a Velvet Underground song. Dream songs - Roy Orbison’s In dreams plays in The Sandman issue Dream a little Dream of me. The issue / chapter is named after a song. And Mr. Sandman (Bring me a Dream) by the Chordettes is also in that issue. The Skye Boat song - Not actually a rock song by any interpretation of the term but I thought I’d mention it.  Many of you may recognize the Skye Boat song as the “theme song to Outlander.”   This song is referenced in The Sandman: A Game of You. Labyrinth - Neil Gaiman is an admitted fan of the Jim Henson film Labyrinth.  A friend of mine insisted that Morpheus is “Goth Jareth” (David Bowie’s character in Labyrinth). And a Game of You has some plot similarities to Labyrinth.  Labyrinth has six original songs by David Bowie. 
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Queen -  It’s no secret that Neil Gaiman is a Queen and David Bowie fan and tends to reference both whenever possible in his writing.  The Sandman Brief lives is no exception.  When Delirium wanders into a night club two men are discussing the death of Freddie Mercury, the lead singer of Queen, and one mentions someone making the crude joke of “Another One Bites the Dust” (a popular 1980 Queen song).
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There are many more rock music references in The Sandman but these are the ones I could remember off-hand.    Think how strange it would be if all of these (80s) rock elements were removed from The Sandman somehow.  
And this is a more recent connection but John Cameron Mitchell (Hedwig and The Angry Inch) plays Hal AKA Dolly, the drag queen, in The Sandman Netflix series storyline called The Doll’s House.   
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honey-beann · 1 year
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Ruiner, Ruination (RK900 x Reader)
Chapter 5: An Overwhelming Overture - Insight
Series Masterlist
Chapter Synopsis:
Part one of another two part special that tells the tale of the infamous DPD mandatory gala, and all of the things that can happen in apartments and empty hallways.
In this part, everyone's favorite duo deals with an injury that requires a lot of teamwork, which may or may not lead to them growing a bit… closer so to speak. What will happen at the Gala? How are Reader and Nines doing after Reader's long drop from the Hughes family attic? And how did Hank and Connor get dragged into this mess?
AKA: Reader gets hurt, Nines experiences guilt, and they both have to learn to adjust for the sake of the other's sanity. What could go wrong?
Chapter Content Warnings:
Mentions of injury
Mentions of blood
Mentions of death
Vague android self harm
Word Count: 8,510
You sighed nervously as you entered into the foyer, fighting the urge to adjust the sling on your right arm as your gaze shifted from person to person.
Everyone here was dressed in formal attire, no one wanting to disappoint Fowler or the higher ups with less than stellar clothing on a night like this one.
Tonight was the Detroit City First Responder and Civic Services Gala, one of very few events the entire department was expected to attend annually, and here you were, in your very best dress, with a trademark blue sling supporting the shoulder injury you'd received while working the Hughes case six days ago.
How fun.
Well, at least you looked good.
Your dress was long and black, with a thin slit that ran up your right thigh in a way that nearly revealed the light bruising present there.
And suddenly, standing there in the foyer, your mind flashed back to that night without warning.
You had only just come to after passing out mid-fall during your death defying drop from the third story of the Hughes' House, and every nerve in your body felt as if it was on fire.
But the most notable feeling by far was that of cool fingers, long and thin, pressing hard into the flesh of your upper thigh with enough force to leave the aforementioned bruising even days afterward.
Even still, you had neglected to mention said bruising to Nines, even after you'd realized it was his intense grip that had caused it.
You didn't want to make him feel bad for something that, if nothing else, almost seemed to show how deeply he cared for your well being, so afraid to lose his grip on you and let you down (literally), that he had held you tight enough for it to bruise.
It was about as sweet as Nines could get, honestly.
You swayed a bit on your feet, eyes unfocused as the familiar feeling of falling unconscious began to overcome you once more, just as it had shortly after you'd felt Nines' hands on your neck and thigh that night, and you were only brought back to reality by the faint smell of cedar and clary sage, the familiarity of it causing you to refocus your gaze with a sharp intake of breath.
You looked over to find your partner, the source of the familiar scent in question, taking in his curious and mildly concerned expression as he looped his arm through yours, as if worried you might fall over without the extra support.
"Are you feeling alright, Detective?"
He asked cautiously, his words slow and purposeful in a way that made you focus intently on each individual syllable.
You nodded quickly, although perhaps too much so based on the face that Nines made in response,
"I'm fine, just a little distracted is all."
You reassured gently, noting the look of subtle displeasure that flickered across Nines' features before he was right back to his same neutral and vaguely disapproving expression.
"I see. Would you prefer it if I found you a seat, then?"
You thought for a brief moment before shaking your head, offering your partner a mostly genuine smile as you did so,
"I'm alright to stand. I have plenty of support if I need it."
You joked, watching as Nines rolled his eyes in response, guiding you further into the venue where most of your fellow coworkers and various other supporters of the DPD were mingling, their conjoined conversations melding into one loud noise as you grew further away from the foyer entrance.
The sudden shift in sound made you feel dizzy for a few moments, your mind briefly flashing back to the shouts and clamor that had surrounded you as the scene of your previous case effectively crumbled to dust behind you.
Thankfully, there had been no casualties or injuries amongst your coworkers (save for your own), but as you thought back to that night you couldn't stop your mind from conjuring up the image of the little android girl you had so desperately wanted to save.
Gwyneth.
She had been blonde, although the blood of her abusive guardians had dyed her hair a sickly orange, and she had been so incredibly excited when you'd mentioned knowing Connor. She was just like so many other little girls, she had idols, loved her family, felt fear, and was so undoubtedly alive that it sickened you to know that a great deal of people didn't believe that to be true.
You could remember so vividly the way her fear had consumed her, blue blood staining that matted orange hair as she slammed her head against the floor again and again in an attempt to end the influx of negative emotions she was feeling.
"It was self destruction."
Nines had explained to you afterward while sitting in the arm chair you kept in your living room, his gaze cast downward as he spoke, guilt weighing heavily on his shoulders whether he would ever admit such a thing aloud or not.
"It is common in deviants, especially those who have only recently deviated or are younger and more prone to rashness as a part of their protocol. There was nothing you could have done to stop her once she started."
The unspoken words at the end of his sentence were that what had happened to Gwyneth was therefore not your fault, but you couldn't bring yourself to address that wordless promise, the same way that your partner hadn't been able to bring himself to say it outright.
Neither of you wanted to talk about the guilt you harbored over that night,
Yours for letting both Gwyneth and your partner down when they had trusted you,
And Nines' for allowing you to be hurt when he had promised no harm would come to you.
Of course, in the end, a simple dislocation because of your arm positioning upon being caught was far less severe than any injuries you would have received otherwise.
But your android companion seemed to struggle to see that as a positive.
In his eyes, you never should have been injured at all,
It never should have been possible.
Suddenly though, and without any warning, you were thrown back into the present, this time by a voice that pulled you far from the recesses of your inner thoughts in a single moment.
"Hello, you two, enjoying the evening so far?
You smiled up at the speaker, nodding politely as you addressed him,
"Of course sir, how could we not?
You spoke to your captain formally, grinning up at him as he gave you an apologetic smile of his own.
"I'm glad to hear it, Y/n, as well as to see you in attendance tonight. I was happy to learn that RK900 was willing to help you make your way around safely the same way he did with your reintegration into the department on Monday. It has been great to see the successes of your partnership within the office this past week."
You let your gaze flicker over to your partner, who was regarding the captain with the same cool politeness he always did, his eyes meeting yours for the briefest of moments before they moved back to Captain Fowler once more.
You let him take the lead of the conversation after that brief look of acknowledgement, and as you further considered the captain's previous words, you felt your mind leave you once more as you recalled all of the ways in which Nines had supported you throughout the past week.
You remembered vividly the way he had looked when you had awoken for the second time on the night of the case, this time in a hospital rather than in the arms of your partner.
You had panicked briefly before you'd caught sight of him sitting there, tie loosened around his neck, collar unbuttoned, and jacket foregone entirely as he sat in stasis mode, his only obvious movements being the rise and fall of his chest due to his internal fans, and his eyelids as they fluttered ever so slightly on occasion, as if he could sense you looking at him even when he wasn't aware of the world around him.
You had watched him like that for a while, surprised to note that it had been the very first time you had seen him in even vaguely casual clothing. Sure, it was just the usual pieces of his uniform being worn in new ways, but still, it almost made him look like a completely different person.
You continued to admire him even as your eyelids grew heavier with sleep, taking in the way that one of his long legs crossed over the other as he sat, straight as a board, at your bedside.
He'd looked almost painfully beautiful like that, and you could recall that being your final thought before you finally succumbed to slumber once more, your dreams that night so incredibly vivid that you could envision them even now.
They came in bright flashes and short bursts,
The feeling of his broad shoulders beneath your hands,
His fingers digging into your thigh,
His voice rumbling in your ear,
Breaths cold and short,
His hand in yours.
Disastrous.
You had awoken with a start the following morning, surprised to find that save for you, your room was entirely empty.
You looked around for a few moments, attempting to sit up in order to get a better view when a sharp pain burst throughout your right shoulder.
You let out a low groan of pain and settled back down into the bed, jumping ever so slightly as the door to your room began to open, revealing your partner and three other figures as they entered quietly.
Nines was the first of the group to notice that you were awake, and he regarded you with a quiet relief as he walked over to your bedside, his LED blinking yellow as he scanned you for any concerns.
You watched him for a few seconds, confused, before you recalled the other individuals in the room, recognition hitting you hard as you shifted your gaze to look them over.
"Hank? Connor?"
You asked, your tone revealing more of your surprise than you'd intended as you took in the sight of your two coworkers, who were just about the closest thing to friends you had due to your busy work schedule.
"Hello, Detective."
Connor greeted politely, a soft smile gracing his lips as he stood towards the end of your hospital bed, shifting to the right a bit as Hank moved to stand beside him.
"Hey Kid, how ya feelin?"
He asked gruffly, and you attempted to shrug in response, only to wince in pain.
Nines shot a glance towards the unidentified individual who had entered the room with the three of them, and it was only then that you noticed he was a doctor rather than another visitor.
"Don't worry, the pain is completely normal."
He clarified immediately, smiling as he approached the side of your bed that Nines wasn't standing at,
"She doesn't have any serious injuries, but she did dislocate her right shoulder. It should start feeling better within a week or two, but I'll send her home in a sling to make sure it heals well."
You groaned internally about being spoken about as if you weren't there, but chose not to say anything. It sounded like if you played your cards right you might just be able to head home, and there was nothing you wanted more in that moment than to sleep in your own bed.
"So she can be discharged after you help her into the sling?"
Nines asked, his tone betraying his look of pure disinterest as he looked you over for any further injuries.
"I don't see why not."
The doctor replied soon after, checking his tablet for any necessary information he may have been missing before he continued,
"I'll have a nurse bring in a sling and her discharge papers in a few minutes. I take it that one of you can take care of that for her?"
Nines nodded immediately as his gaze met yours once again,
"I can."
The doctor nodded before heading out of the room to grab a nurse that would be able to assist him, leaving the four of you to wait for his eventual return.
Thankfully, it did not take very long for the doctor to get your sling on, nor did it take very long for Nines to finish up your discharge paperwork, and thus you were exiting the hospital within the hour, nothing in your possession save for your cell phone.
"You guys need a ride?"
Hank asked gruffly as the four of you slowly made your way towards the exit, and Nines seemed to think for a moment before he answered for the both of you,
"A ride would be beneficial, Lieutenant. Thank you."
Hank shrugged and lead the way to the parking garage, unlocking his car remotely as you approached in order to allow everyone access.
As if you had all done this a million times before, everyone slid into a seat quickly, with Hank driving and Connor in the passenger seat.
You and Nines on the other hand sat on opposite ends of the back seat, both of you nodding in confirmation when Hank asked if everyone was buckled in.
Thus began the drive back to your apartment.
Silence filled the vehicle for the first few minutes of the drive as everyone took the time to relax after a long day, until suddenly, Hank spoke up for the first time since you'd left the parking garage.
"I'm not gonna lie to you Kid, I'm kinda jealous of the whole injured shoulder thing. I've been looking for an excuse to get out of Jeffrey's annual DPD gala bullshit for weeks now, and I've still got nothin."
You groaned in response, cursing as you leaned back against the seat,
"Fuck, is that this week? I already bought my dress for it, and it's nonrefundable. The hell am I supposed to do with that now?"
Your ears perked up as Connor spoke from the front seat, his voice light and almost amused as he spoke,
"If you still wish to attend, I'm sure that RK900 would be perfectly suited to accompany you safely in spite of your injuries."
You raised your brow at that statement, resisting the urge to lean forward towards Connor and risk exacerbating the low thrum of pain already present in your shoulder.
"Perfectly suited?"
You asked cautiously, turning to face your partner as he hummed in confirmation from the seat beside you, looking rather unamusedly at his predecessor.
"I believe that Connor is referring to my extensive medical knowledge pertaining to the human body. It was originally intended to bolster my chances of success during my original mission in the case of... unnecessary casualties. As a result, I am theoretically capable of supplying better support to injured individuals that require it."
You bit back a laugh at that, amused at the idea of your normally standoffish partner attempting to provide someone with care.
"I have no idea why you wouldn't have told me any of this sooner, 'Nurse Nines' has a great ring to it."
You continued to hold back laughter as you spoke, and your partner, though barely sparing you a glance at your words, allowed his lips to curl upward ever so slightly at the edges, his gaze aimed out the window as you grew closer and closer to your apartment.
The rest of the ride was fairly silent, save for the occasional comment from Hank or the exceedingly bad joke from you.
It was nice. You didn't get the opportunity to hang out with friends due to your busy job, and honestly, this was as close as you'd gotten to doing so in a long time.
When you finally did arrive back home, you thanked both Hank and Connor profusely for coming to visit you at the hospital, and made them both promise to let you treat them to a night out sometime soon (although what benefit that could possibly have for Connor, you weren't sure yet).
You waved to them from the front door of your building as Hank slowly pulled back into the road, sparing both you and your icy looking companion a wave of his own before he drove off towards home.
Afterward, you turned to face Nines once more, taking a deep breath before you spoke,
"So, how bad do you think this is gonna hurt?"
You asked, referencing the long stair-filled walk up to your apartment on the fourth floor of the tall brick building that stood before the two of you. You were not looking forward to the jostling all of those steps had in store for your shoulder, nor the long walk up with no railing since the only one was to your right.
Nines gave a fake contemplative hum of response at your words before he tossed the jacket he'd been carrying over his shoulder, freeing up his hands to better help you ascend the steps.
"Depends on how determined you are to struggle."
"Wha- Hey!"
You could've sworn you heard Nines chuckle at your reaction as he lifted you unceremoniously off the ground, one arm supporting your neck while the other rested beneath your knees.
"Feel free to place your arm on my shoulder if it provides it better support, Detective. Though I can't imagine this will take me very long at all."
You huffed in response to your partner's teasing tone, but relented nonetheless, supporting your injured shoulder against his body as he made quick work of the stairs leading up to your apartment.
It was only then, as he set you down just outside of your door in order to allow you the opportunity to unlock it, that you realized that he had never actually been inside before. It wasn't like you were hiding it from him or anything, but even still you couldn't help but feel a rush of nerves as you inserted your key in the lock. twisting it slowly until you felt the deadbolt recede, allowing you to turn the handle and use your foot to push the door inward, causing it to swing forward.
"Home sweet home."
You muttered as you walked inside, attempting to bend over to remove your shoes only to hiss as yet another bolt of pain ran through your injured shoulder.
"Sit down, Detective,"
Nines' voice was stern as it sounded out from behind you, and almost immediately you did as you were told, too distracted by the pain to bother putting up a fight for the sake of your dignity.
"Thank you,"
He began, a hint of satisfaction evident within his tone,
"Now, elaborate upon what it is you need in order to be more comfortable please. I have no sense of what that entails."
You nodded to show your understanding before you opened your mouth to speak,
"Right um... My shoes first I guess, after that I think I can figure everything else out on my own..."
That wasn't really the truth, since you knew how horrendous putting on a new shirt and pants was going to feel later that evening, but you weren't about to admit that to Nines and risk having him insist on helping you with that task too.
You'd much rather take your chances with the unbridled agony.
Nodding in response to your previous words, Nines knelt down in front of you to untie your shoe laces, adept fingers pulling at them until they came undone entirely. Afterward, you watched as he grabbed your foot by the ankle, cupping it within his palm as he began to pull it off slowly, as if worried he could hurt you if he went any faster.
Once that was over and done with, he moved on to the other shoe, expertly removing that one as well before helping you up gently, looking around the room as he did so.
"Are you sure there is nothing else that you may require assistance for, Detective? I am perfectly content to help with whatever you may need."
You shook your head in response to your partners words, leaning your good shoulder against the doorway between the kitchen and the living room as you addressed him,
"I'll be fine, Nines, It's a dislocation not a break. I'll see you at work tomorrow?"
The android in front of you nodded in the affirmative,
"Of course. I can come and pick you up if that would be helpful. Though I would need to borrow your car in order to do so."
You thought for a moment before shrugging your shoulders,
"Yeah sure, what the hell, you already drive it damn near as much as I do anyway."
You fished your keys out of your pocket before tossing them to him, watching as he caught them with ease.
He looked over to you again afterward, keys jingling a bit as he adjusted them within his hand,
"Please contact me if you require any assistance, Detective."
You smirked at him, raising a brow in response,
"Whatever you say, Nurse Nines. I would hate to strip you of a patient to care for."
The man in front of you rolled his eyes but grinned ever so slightly nonetheless as he approached the door once more, swinging it open and taking a step into the hall before he called back behind him.
"Oh, Little Mouse?"
He called, his tone haughty and unconcerned.
"Yeah?"
You answered meekly, praying he wasn't about to say anything abundantly humiliating for all of your neighbors to hear as if the nickname wasn't already bad enough.
"I would be more than capable of supporting you on your venture to the gala later this week. If that would be of interest to you."
And with that he was gone, the door closing abruptly behind him and the sound of his footsteps slowly fading into the distance as he went.
And after that, Nines' help had only grown more and more crucial.
It had started off small, helping with your shoes each day and taking on the majority of typing for your conjoined reports, but eventually, you'd been forced to admit you needed more support than you'd initially let on after one too many issues with injury.
After that, you were finally willing to ask for extra help, especially when it came to things like cooking, cleaning, and various other embarrassing chores you would've preferred to simply do on your own.
One incredibly embarrassing example of the extra support you needed was what you were now lovingly referring to as "the pants incident", but that was far too much for you to think about right now.
No, now you were thinking of how well you had worked with Nines throughout the week, reading him various cases aloud to help as best you could with the paperwork process that you were now effectively useless to support him with.
Of course, both of you knew that things would go even faster if Nines had done the reading himself in the background of doing said paperwork, but truth be told, you both enjoyed the teamwork aspect of the routine. It gave you something to do, and it ensured that Nines wouldn't be distracted by your nonsensical need for entertainment every few minutes.
Needless to say, it was a good system, and it wasn't even close to the only one that the two of you had developed in response to your injury.
For example, you would work together to make you coffee in the break room, with you gathering materials while Nines did all of the two handed motions required, such as stirring, packing the coffee machine, and pouring the milk and sugar.
But truthfully, the most beneficial thing Nines had done for you thus far had occurred today, when he'd helped you into your ridiculously long gala dress.
You had been hoping to avoid requiring any clothing related help, especially when it came to the type of clothing that you had to be almost entirely naked to put on, but even so, there was no way you could have managed the task of getting that dress on alone.
He had shown up at your door at 6:00pm on the dot, just as he'd said he would earlier in the day, and you had to fight the urge to bite back an audible whine of frustration when you realized he'd arrived in time to learn of your embarrassing dilemma.
For the past six days, you had been wearing solely sweatpants and tee shirts to work after receiving special permission from Fowler, and honestly you'd managed to get pretty good at getting dressed in the mornings.
But this dress? This was a whole new obstacle for you to worry about.
Currently, you had it pooled upon the floor, perfectly maneuvered for you to step into and pull up, except you lacked the motor capabilities necessary to do that incredibly important last step.
And those straps? Those were basically a death trap without extra help with getting them onto your shoulder.
You sat on the edge of your bed, desperately wishing you had the ability to place your head in your hands as you tried to find a solution before your android partner assumed you'd hurt yourself and burst into your apartment, leaving you with a mess and a door bill you had no interest in paying.
Nines knocked again, louder this time, and fearing for your wallet, you forced yourself up slowly, careful to nurse your still bruised shoulder, which was currently without the sling you typically used to support it, since you had been about to attempt the insane feat of putting on a dress.
"Coming!"
You called out as you tugged on your bathrobe, walking quickly towards the door before unlocking and opening it, glaring a bit at the man who stood on the other side.
"You literally have a key, Nines, I've been using the spare since I gave you my key ring with my regular apartment key on it so you could take the car."
Your partner shrugged and brushed past you, looking you up and down slowly with a slight tilt of his head.
"You aren't dressed? I thought you said you wanted to be at the event by 6:30 tonight. I'm not sure how that will be possible if you have yet to get ready."
You resisted the urge to shoot your partner another glare as you shifted your gaze towards the floor, feeling warmth rise to your cheeks as you spoke,
"I tried to get ready. The dress is too long to pull all the way up by myself with my shoulder still injured."
Nines was silent for a few moments before he gave a brief nod of understanding and stepped closer to you, using his heel to close your apartment door behind him as he did so.
"Would you like some assistance?"
You blanched at that, certain your cheeks were bright pink as you continued to keep your gaze fixed on your kitchen floor, lips unable to form words as you tried to think of some way to respond to that question.
The android standing before you watched with vague amusement and slight confusion as you continued to look anywhere but at him, and he crossed his arms and sighed before he elaborated upon his earlier question,
"I can close my eyes, if you would prefer. I can assure you that I do not require vision to assist you in pulling a dress up and maneuvering some fabric over your shoulders for you."
You rolled your eyes at his ever persistent confidence before you gave in and nodded slowly, turning around and leading the man in question quietly to your bedroom, where he made his way over to the dress that was lying on the floor without a word, gesturing for you to stand before him as he prepared to ready the dress for you to step into while he was holding it.
Swallowing thickly, you sighed, moving to stand with your back to your partner and watching as his hands appeared from behind you, maneuvering around your body before holding the dress before you expectantly.
"Step in first, after that I can close my eyes and you can take your robe off."
He murmured, his voice coming from behind and below you as he knelt on the floor to ensure you wouldn't have to take too high of a step in order to get your legs into the dress.
You nodded softly, trying to ignore the subtle heat that emanated off of Nines as you stepped into the long black gown he was holding between his finger tips.
"Done."
You said softly, your voice almost meek as you resisted the urge to fidget, knowing full well that the android behind you would notice instantly and call you out before you could even think of a good excuse as to why you were doing it.
"Alright Detective, my eyes are closed. You can remove your robe now. I will not open until you tell me to."
Desperate to dissipate some of the tension in the air, you let out a nervous laugh as you clumsily untied the knot at the front of your bathrobe,
"Until I tell you to? Since when do you take orders?"
You joked, letting the robe drop to the floor in front of you, shivering ever so slightly as the cool night air drifting in from your open bedroom window hit your bare torso.
Nines let out a low hum in response to your teasing, but didn't say a word as he slowly started to pull your dress upward, his knuckles occasionally grazing your thighs and hips as he moved the fabric skillfully up your frame, stopping when his hand grazed your upper back, which left you fighting off yet another, far less temperature related, shiver in response.
"Can you put your hand through the strap if I lower it a bit?"
He asked calmly, feeling to you like the very antithesis of yourself with his grounded attitude and unbothered feelings towards the situation you were in.
"Yeah, I just need it a tiny bit lower and I can get it in."
You murmured, feeling the hair on the back of your neck stand up as your partner's artificial breaths hit it, and you were surprised to find that they were slightly warm rather than cold the way that they usually were.
Strange.
Without a word, Nines lowered the right strap of your dress, and you slid your hand in without issue, thus allowing him to pull it the rest of the way up before situating it gently on your injured shoulder.
"Does that feel alright, Detective?"
He asked, his voice low and smooth in a way that had you hoping all of this would be over before too long, because you weren't sure how long you could endure torture like this.
You cleared your throat in response, giving several quick nods to answer his question,
"Feels perfect. Wanna hand me the other one? I can do that myself."
You said quietly, hearing a light and affirmative hum from behind you as Nines placed the left strap into your left hand, allowing you to maneuver it upward before pulling the built in bra portion of the dress to your chest, adjusting things accordingly before you spoke up again,
"Would you mind zipping me up?"
You asked, resisting the urge to shift your weight between your feet as Nines replied,
"Not at all, Little Mouse. May I open my eyes?"
There was a teasing lilt to his tone that made you inhale sharply, and you prayed that he hadn't noticed as you struggled to regain your ability to speak.
"Oh yeah, sorry..."
You trailed off, having forgotten about his previous promise to leave his eyes closed until you said otherwise almost entirely before he'd brought it back up again, leaving your cheeks red and your hands clenched slightly where they hung.
You bit back a surprised gasp as the sudden feeling of a cool hand pressed against the warm skin of your back as Nines used his other hand to deftly pull at your long zipper, which began to close to your lower back and ended just below your shoulder blades.
He zipped your dress slowly, breath still slightly warm on the back of your neck as he moved your hair out of the way, voice incredibly close to your ear as he made his way towards the end of the zipper.
"How does it feel, Little Mouse?"
He asked, the sound of his voice, ever so slightly lower than usual, so close to your ear making you shiver involuntarily for the third time that night.
Your brain felt fuzzy and far away as you tried to think up a reply, eventually squeaking out an embarrassed,
"Fine!"
Before the android behind you hummed in response, taking a step away that had you briefly missing the almost unnoticeable warmth of his body before you snapped out of it and took your own step forward before turning to face your partner who was stood behind you, gaze locked on your form as you gave him a nervous laugh,
"How does it look? Gala appropriate?"
Your partner gave a subtle nod before his gaze moved upward towards your own, causing you to realize with a start just how long he had been looking you over.
"It is perfectly suitable for tonight's event."
He said cooly after a few moments of silence, picking your sling up off of your bed not long after he finished speaking in order to help you put it back on.
And it was only then, your chest just inches away from his own as he helped you put on your sling, that you started to notice what your partner was wearing tonight.
Nines was dressed in a grey turtleneck sweater with black dress slacks, the silver watch adorning his wrist catching in the light of your bedroom as he adjusted the strap of your sling accordingly.
God where did he get his clothing?
It seemed that everything that Nines wore was perfectly tailored to fit his trim but imposing frame, every single detail perfect in every possible way no matter where he went or what he was wearing.
Talk about unfair.
"Is everything alright, Detective?"
The sound of your partners voice, this time from what sounded like very far away, caused you to start, and suddenly, without warning, you were tossed right out of your own thoughts and back into reality, only to find that Captain Fowler had excused himself to greet more guests and that Nines was staring down at you intensely, his hand gripping your arm in a way that was almost forceful.
"Detective?"
He repeated, eyes burning into your own as you cleared your throat awkwardly, giving your partner a nervous grin as he continued his unwavering ocular interrogation, eyes narrowing as he tried to discern what exactly was going on.
Thankfully enough for you though, you must have looked far more lucid than you had previously, because after a few seconds of this he relented, loosening his grip on your good arm before he motioned over to the bar.
"It would be best if you had some water, Detective. You appeared to be more than a little bit dazed for quite some time during my discussion with the captain."
You started shaking your head, only to groan audibly as your partner began to guide you towards the bar against the wall to your right, his hand never leaving your arm as he did so,
"It was not a suggestion, Little Mouse."
He said, his tone almost stern as he helped you into one of many empty bar stools before gesturing for the bartender, ordering you an ice water as you turned your attention towards some of the other people at the bar, your coworker Chris included.
"Y/n!"
He said excitedly, grinning as if he hadn't seen you at your desk just hours prior as he moved to sit at the empty stool to your right, his gaze briefly flickering to your still occupied partner before he looked towards you once more.
"Hey Chris."
You greeted with a smile, looking around to see if he had brought any of his family members with him to the gala,
"Did you not bring your wife or son? I thought you just told me the other day that you had a little suit ready to go and everything."
You teased, and your friend laughed as he shrugged his shoulders,
"Eh, turns out kids have to have strict bed times when they're still that young. I'll convince the wife to let him go next year, or to at least get a babysitter so she can come along."
You laughed at his response, having only just opened your mouth to reply when a familiar hand placed a cup of water on the bar top in front of you from behind.
You shifted your gaze back to Chris only to find he was grinning slightly at the very same figure who had brought you your water, his eyes flickering between the two of you before they settled behind you once more.
You shifted slightly in your seat, turning your head to see that Nines was standing directly behind your back, watching you expectantly until you finally relented to his wordless command with a sigh and drank some of the water he had insisted upon you getting.
When you set the cup down again, Nines didn't look entirely pleased, but he was significantly less pointed with his expectations than before, so you took what you could get and turned your attention back towards Chris, who was still watching the two of you with what appeared to be amusement.
"And what's so funny?"
You asked, your tone betraying your tough guy question as you watched Chris roll his eyes at you,
"Oh nothing, I'm just wondering how much you must've drank already to have the android on water duty."
You scoffed at your friend and placed your left hand to your chest as if offended,
"Excuse you, officer, but I haven't had a drink all night long, so you can cool it with those accusations of yours. Besides, I couldn't drink even if I wanted to, Nines has decided I must be the most severely dehydrated woman on earth and has restricted me to only drinking water for the remainder of my time at the event."
You could almost feel the eye roll that Nines gave in response to that, his voice cool and unbothered as he replied,
"You may drink whatever you please, Detective. I may be acting on your best interest at the moment, but I can assure you that I have no intention of baby sitting you all night."
You felt your cheeks turn bright pink at his words as Chris burst out laughing at his response,
"He got your ass!"
He all but cackled, arms wrapping around his stomach as he leaned forward on his bar stool, and you had to resist the urge to nudge him off with your foot as you prayed this humiliation would be over soon.
Luckily enough for you, it appeared that Chris had a few beers in his system and didn't have much of an attention span to work with, because when he came back up from his raucous laughter, wiping a tear from his eye as he did so, he had an entirely different topic at the tip of his tongue.
"By the way, did either of you stop by the Hughes crime scene again after the incident?"
He asked, and you hid your slight grimace at the reminder of the case behind your glass as you sipped at your water.
"No."
Nines responded far before you could, having been so dreadfully occupied with your water, and you were just about to apologize for his curtness when Chris nodded.
"Yeah, I didn't think so. But when Tina and I got there today it was crazy, the whole house is a pile of rubble, and the city apparently has no idea what to do with it since they don't want to bother spending any money to rebuild or even clean it up. It's a huge shit show, I do not envy the poor soul that has to deal with that property now that the family is gone."
You nodded absent mindedly, placing your glass on the bar as you felt yourself slowly slipping into your own memories once more, the reminder of the case bringing back the sounds, smells, and sights that night had unfortunately had in store for yourself and everyone else who had been present on the scene. You were just about to let yourself go entirely when the feeling of someone grabbing your good arm once more planted you firmly back into reality, your eyes widening a little when you'd realized what had happened.
You looked over to the owner of the hand that had gripped your arm, unsurprised to find your ever vigilant partner all but glaring down at you, concern and what almost looked to be anger evident within his gaze as he gently tugged you off of your stool and away from the bar without another word, leaving Chris to watch in confusion as you were dragged out of the crowded event room and into an empty hallway.
You swallowed thickly as you finally felt Nines let go of your arm, allowing yourself to lean slightly against the wall behind you as you took in the unfamiliar sight of this new area of the building.
The wallpaper here was fancy, almost a yellowed paper color with various swirls on it that made you feel dizzy if you looked at them for too long. You averted your gaze, but regretted it almost immediately as your eyes locked onto those of your partner, who still looked a bit too mad for your liking, even in the dim light of the hallway, where his features were just a bit less clear than they had been before.
"Nines I-"
"Tell me what is going on with you. Now."
He ordered, his voice just barely above a growl as he took a step closer to you, the look in his eyes betraying him as you watched the anger all but drain from his eyes, leaving behind only concern and something else you couldn't quite put your finger on.
Pain?
You brushed it off, gaze falling to the floor as you quietly explained what had been happening to you throughout the night, hands playing nervously with the fabric of your dress as you spoke.
"I'm not really sure what it is or why it's happening..."
You clarified towards the end of your explanation,
"But for some reason, I just can't stay focused tonight. I keep almost drifting off and getting stuck in my thoughts for a while until something catches my attention and suddenly I'm right back here."
Nines listened intently, nodding from time to time as something new,
Relief maybe?
Filled his grey eyes.
And finally, several long seconds of silence after you had finished explaining yourself to him, Nines spoke up once more.
"I believe you are overwhelmed, Detective. There are a great deal of people here, both known and unknown, and given your recent experiences, I believe it is normal for you to react to so much sudden external stimuli this way, especially after we have been so careful to avoid it throughout the past week. My apologies for not considering this could occur, I neglected to consider your mental state as much as I did your physical and-"
"Nines, I'm fine."
You cut him off abruptly, wishing you had the ability to cross your arms as you watched the man in front of you blink in surprise at your sudden interruption before continuing,
"Well, regardless, I think it would be best for me to bring you home. I can apologize to Fowler for our early disappearance tomorrow, and I am sure that he will understand given your circumstances."
You sighed and gave your partner a pleading look, desperate to do something, anything, but sit in your apartment alone for yet another night.
"C'mon Nines, please don't make me go home so early, it took me forever to finally get this stupid dress on, and everyone will think we're total losers."
That last part was meant to be a joke to lighten the mood, but the RK900 model android in front of you ignored it entirely, watching you in silence for a few moments before he sighed, and you had to fight the urge to yell out in victory.
It was very rare that you got your way if Nines thought something else was best, so honestly, this felt like a pretty historic moment for you.
"Fine. We can stay for a little while longer, but only if you allow yourself a few minutes more of quiet before going back into the event room. I have no interest in dragging you back out here in ten minutes because you went back in there and overwhelmed yourself again immediately. If anything like that becomes necessary for a second time tonight, I will consider the venue to be too much for you and bring you home without a second thought. As I said earlier, I have no interest in being your baby sitter, Little Mouse."
Your cheeks began to grow warm again at the nickname, and you were just about to open your mouth and make a retort when the sound of voices coming towards your secluded hallway shocked you into silence, although that was mostly due to the fact that you easily identified the large group of voices as seven to eight of your coworkers, something Nines appeared to have done instantly, his gaze flickering back and forth between the direction the voices were coming from, and you.
Suddenly, without warning, you gasped as Nines took multiple steps forward, shushing you as he all but pressed his larger form up against your own, making it all but impossible for anyone to see you if they made it as far as this particular hallway.
"Don't make a sound. I am certain that multiple of the individuals I have identified would be more than just a little bit chatty if they happened to see you, and as I said before, if you must insist on staying, then I must insist upon you letting your mind relax before attempting to take in even more external stimuli."
Still shocked by your partner's unfamiliar closeness, you nodded without a word in response, noting in your mind the way that he had braced your injured shoulder with one of his hands before he had all but forced you against the wall, thus ensuring he didn't cause you any harm in the process.
Watching your partner through still slightly widened eyes, you both listened intently for several minutes as the voices slowly grew louder and louder until they finally began to fade away once more, headed back in the direction of the event room.
You let out a sigh of relief at the sound of the voices growing fainter as they moved further away from where the two of you stood, only realizing then just how glad you were to not have to talk to anyone at that moment. Maybe your brain did need a break.
Relenting to the idea that Nines had been right all along, you moved your gaze up and down his form, your hand moving up to the neck of his turtleneck before you even realized what you were doing, causing the android in front of you to jolt a bit in surprise at your sudden touch.
You looked up at him, vaguely amused by his reaction and grinning as you spoke,
"What's with the high neckline shirts all the time, by the way? Got some sort of secret under there?"
You teased, pulling the fabric away from his artificial flesh before allowing your finger to graze the normally covered area before you froze entirely at Nines' response, which was a harsh and sharp sudden intake of breath, something you knew for a fact he didn't do often.
In fact, you had never heard him react to anything like that before.
But then, it got even weirder,
Because standing just over an inch away from you with his hand wedged between your injured shoulder and the wall at your back, Nines, an android created to hunt down and destroy his own kind, shivered.
You fought the urge to gape at that, desperately trying not to seem as in awe of him as you were as he slowly opened eyes that you hadn't even realized he'd closed when you'd touched him, and gazed down at you intently, his chest rising and falling with each slightly heavier breath he took.
"Are you alright?"
You asked softly, watching as the man in front of you nodded tensely, his gaze never leaving yours as he spoke,
"Yes, I am perfectly fine, Detective. My apologies for the impromptu reaction, I'm afraid that there wasn't anything I could do to control it. Your actions were... unexpected."
He finished, and when you raised a brow at him he opened his mouth again to clarify,
"Due to all of the necessary technology required to make me more advanced than my predecessor, I required significantly more data analysis capabilities. As a result, I was equipped with many sensors, most of which can be utilized via the primary sensors found on my tongue, which then sends that data to multiple other sensors that were stored within my neck. This had lead to what could be described as a vulnerability in my physical form at my throat, as this issue was not remedied prior to the uprising, and was not seen as important to remedy afterward. Therefore, I simply decided that clothing that covers my neck is best, though I have never outright avoided clothing with a normal neckline."
You nodded slowly at your partners explanation, feeling almost disappointed as he suddenly took a step backward, allowing you to move away from the wall as he readjusted his shirt, his cheeks an incredibly pale blue color that was so faint you weren't sure if you'd seen it at all before it was gone entirely.
A trick of the light maybe?
You shrugged it off before realizing that Nines was offering his arm to you once more, just as he had upon your arrival, and you found yourself accepting it eagerly as the two of you took slow but deliberate steps towards the event room once more.
AO3 Link
Series Masterlist
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dalmascan-requiem · 3 months
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(Count)Down To Dawntrail - A Realm Reborn
more info here
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wrathofrats · 5 months
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Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers (if you’d like). Let’s spread the self-love 💗
Thank you!! 🫶🫶
Anything from the delta series but especially this one I cannot overstate how much I love this series and have so many plans with it. But this specific installment was just so fulfilling for me, and I really enjoyed the details in it. Like I based a lot of deltas traits on my personal experiences with those with dementia, a lot of pebbles on my dealings with grief and the motif of the dingy light and dust to parallel deltas real prison to omegas mental one? UGH I LOVE THIS PIECE I COULD TALK ABOUT IT FOR HOURS.
Me very obviously throwing in Over and overture (sexual perversity) to this because how could I not? I enjoy writing pebble and alpha together so much no one understands, they’re beyond fun and I had a blast making this fic.
Phantom/mountain wax play. I love writing blasphemy as we know, and I think this piece was a really fun time. Especially with it being mountain and phantom who I don’t see a lot, so
Swissdew marking. Swissdew and being really weird about paint what more could you want? I need to be weirder about the paint they use, but this was a very good start.
Mountain/rain confessional booths MORE BLASPHEMY WOO. Another note of I need to be weirder about confessional booths. But rain and mean mountain and ???? UGH
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cboffshore · 9 months
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introducing there's a light on: a character playlist experiment
Or: what would happen if I made a Nadakhan character playlist, but only let myself use Fall Out Boy tracks?
Tracklist and notes below the cut, as usual.
A word before we begin: This is both a very intense character exercise and a very casual affair. Very intense in that each song here was heavily vetted over a period of a few months (and, of course, we know I've been doing Nadakhan character work for years on end now), and very casual in that the decision to create this playlist was a quick one, almost a joke. I chose Fall Out Boy for no other reason than, thanks to a new album release and concert cycle in 2023, the fact that I was very into Fall Out Boy. It was a good choice, though; FOB harbors a lot of unique, complex themes that lent themselves nicely to this project. There's also the unique meta angle of lead singer Patrick Stump performing in a style that ordinarily doesn't pair with the genre FOB calls home and pulling it off pretty much flawlessly, which is a neat parallel to Nadakhan's entire origin story.
Some of the songs here are so on the nose you'd think they were written for Nadakhan; others might be here for a single, perfect lyric, or even just Vibes. I should also note that there is no particular order to these songs. I could very well have lined them up to match his seasonal arc, but as a nod to the common critique (and astute observation) that Nadakhan is pretty erratic, I let each song fall wherever it lay while I was tossing them into the playlist. I'll do the notes for these in order of the playlist for ease, though. Additionally, these aren't comprehensive notes - truly, I could write an essay for a lot of these individually. (Please, please, please ask me about songs on here. I might have more to say.) For now, these are just the strongest correlations I picked up.
Of course, I think the best way to get through this playlist is to go listen and just... think about his character. Drop the preconceived notions and the runaway fanonization. Think of what he does, and when he does it, and who's close to or far away from him.
Enough of my blabbering. You're about to get enough of that from Pete Wentz's poetry.
"Love From The Other Side" opens with sweeping, mysterious orchestral work that crashes, hard, into angry drums and screaming guitar work. From there, the entire song acts like an overture for the rest of the playlist: themes of growing up, getting out, and feeling out of place. The lyric that cemented this song's place on the playlist ties into Nadakhan's relationship with his father, as well as his hidden self-esteem issues as he tries to live up to his final promise: "This city always hangs a little bit lonely on me, loose/Like a kid playing pretend in his father's suit." I also particularly like the bridge line "Give up what you love before it does you in" - a gorgeous little nod at the end of the season, where what he works so hard for does indeed drown him.
"Baby Annihilation" is a unique one - fully spoken word by Wentz, with a surreal, dreamlike backing track. I chose this one for its impressive lyrical parallel to a line Nadakhan speaks during the finale: "But you know what they say: if you want a job done right, you gotta do it yourself." After the fact, however, I thought it sounded a little more like someone else - possibly Jay - talking about the experience itself, or perhaps Nadakhan himself looking in after everything crumbled. It's less of a song and more a series of cryptic observations that I can't quite break down - which parallels how I feel about analyzing Nadakhan. There's always something that feels a little off.
"My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark" is classic FOB, and again, opens with a delightfully parallel line that lights up like a caution sign warning you what Nadakhan's main tactic is: "Be careful makin' wishes in the dark, dark/Can't be sure when they've hit their mark, mark." Tonally, this one is fast, angry, and strong - it sounds like fight music, honestly. It's an anthem all around, complete with layered group vocalizations in the back that remind me of an entire crew singing at once.
"27" is the single most Nadakhanish song I have ever, ever heard. I could go into extreme detail on every line here (and honestly, maybe someday I will!), but I think his attitude towards his crew and how he hides his plans from them is best summed up with this sequence:
My mind is a safe And if I keep it then we all get rich My body is an orphanage We take everyone in Doing lines of dust and sweat
This is one of those songs you need to put both earbuds in for and just... listen. Nothing else. Hands in your lap and think of him as a character, and suddenly every line should fall into place. (Also, sick guitar solo!)
"I've Got All This Ringing In My Ears And None On My Fingers" is here for a very specific part: the first verse. While the whole song is a nice fit, I absolutely have to highlight the opening few lines, because... wow, if this isn't a perfect fit, I couldn't say what is:
You're a canary I'm a coal mine 'Cause sorrow is just all the rage Take one for the team You all know what I mean
I shouldn't need to explain this one too much. (Also, yes, this is what I named that essay after.) After this point, the lyrics touch on themes of desperate (if ill-fated) love, followed up by wailing vocals in the closer and some very iffy-sounding cheering that fits well with his desperation to be someone.
"Bishop's Knife Trick" was one of the first songs that I knew had to make it onto this playlist. Most striking is the repeated line "The glow of the cities below lead us back/to the places we never should have left," which reminded me both of the floating landmasses and of Nadakhan running away from home. I also think the bridge, with its hourglass imagery and themes of desperation and refusal to let go of the past, is beautifully fitting. This, too, has a haunting, grand tone to it: lots of echoey effects and dramatic chords and reverb.
"West Coast Smoker" includes two very important components for this project: a line specifically about being the last of one's kind ("I'm the last of my kind/and that's all that should matter to you") and a female guest vocalist. The former line ties in nicely with Nadakhan's superiority complex, that belief that he deserves more power than he has simply because he has any power at all (and the whole realm collapse thing, too). The latter, however - in the form of Debbie Harry of Blondie - is a neat little meta thing that I only recently noticed. The first time I ever heard this song, I thought the backing vocals were Stump doing some weird falsetto, or maybe someone else entirely from the band. Honestly, I could barely even hear those vocals. Turns out, that's not the case! When I learned the truth, my entire perception changed. In a similar way, once you realize how much of Nadakhan's story (and all of Skybound) is driven by women (regardless of how they're treated), you never quite see it the same again. Nadakhan's motivated by an undercurrent of female influence in the same way that Harry's vocals lend something unique to this track.
"Headfirst Slide Into Cooperstown On A Bad Bet" starts strong with a nice parallel to Nadakhan's signature persuasion tactic: "When he walks into the room, the walls lean in to listen" and only gets better from there. My favorite part of this song is the infamous "Wish I didn't, I didn't..." sequence that culminates in a very apt line: "Don't just want to be a footnote in someone else's happiness." We know Nadakhan's bitter about having to make other people's dreams come true by virtue of who he is; in an attempt to single himself out, he twists that power, ensuring he makes it out of the footnotes and into the main text of everyone's story. Finally, I love the line "It's a sign - what if you peaked early?" Because he did, in fact, peak early. Twice, actually. First, his heyday before his imprisonment; then, as Flintlocke points out, the brief period where he fully controlled the skies and had already won. Oh, and the fact that the entire song reads like a man trying to convince someone he's trying to woo to leave their existing relationship for his sake? Sounds familiar...
"Heaven, Iowa" is desperately, gorgeously sentimental - a simple, surreal plea to be remembered well, and to be loved. This specifically ties into the moment in the season finale, where he desperately (and apparently repetitively) asks Delara if she still loves him: "Tell me, when the party ends/Will you still love who I am?" (Once again: crashing guitars and layered vocals add extra depth. I love the way this one shifts from simple maraca backing to absolutely wild, desperate percussion and backing choir.)
"I've Got A Dark Alley..." is another sentimental one, maybe a little more platonic or even introspective, that examines failure and disappointment. It also reflects, quite simply and beautifully, how Nadakhan pushes people away and digs his own grave by refusing to let others in:
And the record won't stop skipping And the lies just won't stop slipping And besides my reputation's on the line
"Heaven's Gate" is one of the very few genuine love songs FOB has ever crafted, and it's perfect for what little of the Nadakhan-Delara dynamic we see. There's the rebellious imagery of breaking into heaven, but the lovely faith of knowing one's partner will help them out; there's a near-obsessive note of devotion. It's even a waltz! Most fitting, though, is the line "everything else is a substitute for your love," which I think nicely represents how Nadakhan brushes off his relationship with Delara early on. Sure, it fuels so much of his plot, but he hides it by just keeping busy and hoping those actions all help him in the end.
"Sophomore Slump or Comeback Of The Year" is both confident and insecure - trying to convince the listener that the singer is something special, but being a little too desperate about it at points. I added this one specifically for the pairing of "I'll keep singing this lie if you'll keep believing it" and "the best part of 'believe' is the lie," both of which are desperately repeated. I also appreciated the the bitter remembrance of better times: "the kids you used to love/but then we grew old."
"The (Shipped) Gold Standard" is a restless track, flipping between memories, doubts, impossible future plans, and a desire to be honest without the ability. I do hear Nadakhan's fear of vulnerability here: "I wanna scream 'I love you' from the top of my lungs/but I'm afraid that someone else'll hear me." Oh, and the whole "business of souls" bit, which occurs in a bizarrely angry section of the otherwise very smooth song - almost like the mutiny breakdown.
"From Now On We Are Enemies" is so, so much. "A downward spiral, just a pirouette/Getting worse til there's nothing left" is an apt summary of his story, for starters. Beyond that, this song is somewhere between a confession and an analysis, a self-critique, in fact. Just... go listen to this one. Seriously. Every line here works. There's desire, there's hatred, there's fear... it's delicious.
"The Music Or The Misery" is here specifically for the line "I am indifferent (yet I'm a total wreck)/I'm every cliche, but I simply do it best" as a neat nod both towards his hypocrisy at calling Jay an avoidant coward despite doing the same thing and his meta origin as a mashup of classical literary and pop culture sources.
"Jet Pack Blues" is also only here for one specific part (as well as its overall melancholic tone and church chimes). That would be the weirdly pointed "Did you ever love her? Do you know? Or did you never want to be alone?" that occurs multiple times and reminds me immensely of Jay's accusation in episode 60. Although I like to believe that Nadakhan's love for Delara was genuine (and inf act the only thing keeping him tethered at all), it's never definitively answered, and it haunts me. Was he using her? Was she using him? Was it ever real love, or was it an excuse for power? Jay was onto something, honestly.
"Pavlove" is a song with a weird, weird history. Up until very recently, the only official way to access it was to own a specific version of the album it served as a bonus track on; otherwise, piracy! Or the one YouTube listing for it. Anyway, I like the history of this song as fun nod at the limited knowledge of Nadakhan post-Skybound - he might be a historical figure, but besides Jay and Nya, nobody else has those direct memories of interacting with him so recently. This one works lyrically, too - "I want to make you as lonely as me" and "I'm not ready for a handshake with death, no" both reflect his vindictive yet terrified personality. And all the mirror imagery! And "It's three drinks too late to talk to anyone but myself" indicating his tendency to hide things? Perfection.
"So Much (For) Stardust" is "Love From The Other Side" after it's been put through an emotional wringer. If "Love..." is Nadakhan immediately post-release, "So Much..." is him watching his world collapse and realizing that maybe, just maybe, he messed up and wasted his time. It's got themes of lost confidence and insecurity, and the painful truth that sometimes, you do need to lean on others - a fact Nadakhan refuses to accept that then ends his reign. He also attempts to get back to his glory days, which is gorgeously reflected in the lyrical callback to the first track on this playlist:
In another life you were my babe In another life you were the sunshine of my lifetime What would trade the pain for? I'm not sure
I used to be a real go-getter I used to think it'd all get better
Most painfully, I love the way this song ends as a parallel to how Nadakhan's plans crumble. First, the instrumentals fade out; then, the backing vocalists, until it's just the lead singer pleading with a musical void.
"Chicago Is So Two Years Ago" is a weird, weird way to close the playlist, which means it's great that this isn't any sort of meaningful order. This a little more upbeat than other tracks here, but the themes of homesickness, avoidance, and bitter nostalgia remain. Also, this is where the title of the playlist comes from:
But there's a light on in Chicago And I know I should be home
Just remember: Chicago and Djinjago have the same number of syllables. Do with that information what you will.
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lxve-and-lxght · 5 months
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overture/and all that jazz
pairing: thomas shelby/ reader
warnings: afab! reader, jazz, booze, murder, all that fun stuff. eventual smut perhaps?? slow burn?? idk what i'm doing with this sorry
a/n: i'm going to attempt to make a chicago-esque fanfic all about thomas shelby falling for a jazz girl who's going to be a mix of velma kelly and roxie hart because truthfully if i try to write them as their own characters it'll just be chicago that you can read lmao. possible series if there’s any demand for it
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birmingham 1921
it’d been a busy night, practical hell and yet you were rushing down the alley behind the garrison pub and it shouldn’t have been your first thought but the show had to go on. you pushed open the back door and ran inside shuffling upstairs before harry kent could see you and it’d almost worked till he did, in fact, see you.
“whereda hell ‘ave you been?!” he demanded to know, chasing you halfway up the stairs. “you’re supposed to be up there now! where’s your sister?!”
“she couldn’t make it!” you hollered from atop the stairs, slamming the door behind you. you froze against the door for a second and took a breath before you drew the gun out of your dress coat and threw it in a drawer. you rushed to wash your hands and undress for the show but you could hear harry banging on the door over the jazz band improvising as a means to stall the crowd.
the garrison was a popular spot for the remaining boys who’d fought in france and the working men in small heath. they were an unruly crowd that was for sure, and you didn’t know how much longer they could be held off before drunken boredom resulted in a fight. but despite that fact the garrison was always good for a decent show and they had been extremely good to you and your sister when you needed a quick check, after the peaky blinders had bought it out from underneath harry of course.
you pulled the flapper gown up your hips and the straps over your shoulders. taking an aspirin and shaking out your hair then going back in with a lip pencil to fix the smudges your ex husband had left on your face. you took a final look in the shitty mirror hung on the wall before you pulled the door back on harry.
“let’s do this.” you said pushing past him and running down the stairs. your heels clicked on the wood when you entered the crowd and stood center of the band and the other performers. the lights of the pub dimmed when the band quieted before your first number.
“ladies and gentlemen, the garrison pub is proud to present birmingham’s most dazzling dancing duo, two jazz babes moving as one.” the bandleader announced for the crowd.
the spotlight suddenly beat down only on you. not your sister. not the band. no one else. just you. there was a faint applause when the light hit but the crowd settled as the beat began to swing. thomas stood at the bar with arthur.
“come on babe, why don’t we paint the town?” you sang.
“didn’t we pay for a sister act?” arthur asked, taking a swig of a bottle.
“that we did, brother.” thomas said, his voice cold and gravelly, but still they watched as the single dancer began her act. thomas, like all the others, couldn’t help himself from staring. no one could. of course that’s what he was paying her and her sister for. something to distract the crowds from the over policing government growing in small heath, but she was quite the knockout act on her own nonetheless.
the trumpets sang in staccato when she stomped down and snapped her garter at the crowd, still singing and dancing for the drunken masses. her dress thrashing against her thighs when she spun around.
“where there’s a nightly brawl and all that jazz.” the crowd sang along. thomas watched solemnly as the showgirl leaned down to take a flask out of one of their patrons hand and drink it down on stage.
thomas had just barely looked away when the devil’s idle hand himself, inspector campbell, walked in surrounded by uniformed men. he approached tommy by himself.
“like her, do ya?” the inspector asked, nodding at you. there was a beat of silence shared between them before tommy addressed him at all.
“— she’s our headliner tonight.” thomas said, taking a drag from his cigarette.
“well then…” campbell chuckled, “it’ll bring me great pleasure to tell ya, she’s just shot and killed her husband and sister.” thomas looked away from the inspector and back to you, still dancing on stage, campbell patted a rough hand on thomas’ shoulder. “… she’s going hang before the year’s up. you really know how to pick ‘em mr. shelby.”
thomas didn’t offer campbell the satisfaction of any response. he just watched as he retreated back to his uniformed men. he watched them wait for her number to end so they could arrest her and when it finally did and the lights of the garrison came back on, the crowd was cheering her on as the police shoved their way through, manhandling her off the stage and into a pair of handcuffs.
pt. 2
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thecoffeelorian · 7 months
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The Transport On The Left, #4
Title:  The Transport On The Left
Chapter:  Four
Genre:  Drama/Mystery
Word Count:  Under 1k
Characters Included:  Crosshair, Echo, Hunter, Tech, and Wrecker.
Brief Description: "Cross is instantly drawn back into his own memories without a sound, back to a nameless, darkened room where nothing but sound and faint pinholes of light can be found. It's here that someone covers his face with one of these blankets, almost like they're allowing him the first real moment of rest he's had in what feels like months--but then, their next surprise comes."
Warnings: There will be mentions of torture/waterboarding in this chapter. Please avoid this if you know your health will be affected in any way, and thank you.
AO3: Click Here
No-Pressure Tags: @megmca @ladykagewaki @talesfrommedinastation @carlycrays @melymigo @momojedi @mysticalgalaxysalad @moonstrider9904 @slenderboo @localcryptid3 @spacemagicandlaserswords @littlefeatherr @gun-roswell @alabyte @sw-2020-1 @lukascastelan @omglisalithium @skellymom  @me-thestarwarsfan @donut1642 @thats-cacti @gray-paladin @idkwhatdoyouwannabecalled @im-not-the-me-i-use-to-be @storminormins @wendywilliamsleftlip @danger-noodles22 @ladylienda @marvel-starwarsfangirl @theosb0rnway and...pretty much anyone else who's kinda had enough of certain Troopers looking like they'd un-alive each other if Omega wasn't watching. ^^; I guess I have to do everything around here, so here's the overture to ALL these stubborn Fett boys having to learn to discuss deep topics, and NOT wait for Omega to tell them!
Special Notes: This divider was created by @djarrex , and so I give all credit to her. :)
One // Two // Three // Four // Five//
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(Quick Author’s Note: This story is paying NO attention to the people behind the Twitter curtains. So...for what it’s worth, I’ll do my best to keep the explosions to a minimum, if you get my drift. ;)
Four
The next several minutes tick by in a slow crawl, for this decommission site's newest "visitor" sees no real way to respond to this latest cell in a lifelong succession of cells other than with complete silence. It's been like this for him ever since his decanting day, after all, so it's probably not so out of the ordinary to think that this little fact of life could ever change. Not when the original versions of these Hulls already turned their Deeces upon him, and so drove away any lingering dreams of home. Nevertheless, the Hulls themselves decide to play at being happy, and so force a series of half-hearted smiles onto their faces right after they wheel him inside. Crosshair pays them no mind, though, for he slowly becomes far more focused on the room around him.
Standard, Republic-made medbay; medium size; sleeps two to a room with one other patient here residing. Medbay monitor beginning to flicker repeatedly due to end of shelf life; must alert the nearest available staff. Medbay itself appears to have been cleaned and sanitized recently, though a few faint bloodstains remain visible upon the edge of this blanket, origins unknown-- "...drink?" —What...? Focused enough, even, to very nearly miss the question posed to him by the skull-faced Hull. "I, er...wanted to know if you needed something to drink?" Drinks. Sure. THEY had officially stopped giving him drinks, never mind also food and medicine, as soon as he'd woken up on that operating table. In fact, since it was nothing less than kriffing stupid to even ask him such a thing, if only for the idea that nobody else would have bothered to feed him at this point...he had zero second thoughts about ignoring it. "Okay...that's a no. Got it." In response, the ashen Hull walks past the other three Hulls to a small compartment in the wall, inside of which he finds an extra regulation blanket. He easily picks this up with one hand before returning to Crosshair's bedside, the steady whirr-thump of his footsteps sounding upon the oar. "How about this, then?" Cross is instantly drawn back into his own memories without a sound, back to a nameless, darkened room where nothing but sound and faint pinholes of light can be found. It's here that someone covers his face with one of these blankets, almost like they're allowing him the first real moment of rest he's had in what feels like months--but then, their next surprise comes. Water. Not a slow, steady dripping from a faucet in any corner, but a quick wet plume of it right upon his covered face. Direct. Harsh. Enough to seep through the fabric, into his eyes, down his nose and throat, gagging him-- —Where is the female clone?-- —Making him struggle to breathe, forcing him backwards against the headboard as he gasped for air-- "—All right, all right, I'm sorry! Hell of a time to ask!" "—Corporal, I do not believe that this method is effective--" "—Then fine, let's skip the effectiveness and get that other med droid in here--" "—AW, JUST MOVE IT!" ...And then, the tallest of the Hulls suddenly pushes his way past the others, almost knocking the Skull-face right off his feet as he goes off to grab something upon the floor before anybody else can stop him. "Here, Crossy. Think y' just dropped this." Indeed, before anyone else even has the wherewithal to respond... there's something soft--and yet sturdy--placed behind him in order to keep from banging his own head against the wall. "Wrecker, what are you--" "—HELPING." And out of all these Hulls and their stand-offish approach, it's this one who first reacted to his low state, who actually had the nerve to stop muttering and do something about it--but why...?! "Somethin' you all forgot how to do...but never mind." He doesn't get a lot of time to think this through, because before he knows it, this tallest Hull of the batch is pushing his way through the others, a growing scowl evident upon his face as he goes. " 'M going to go find Fireball. Don't comm me until 'Meg gets back." ... Ooh. Ooh. In spite of the way that neither he nor these others ever saw that one coming, however, Crosshair himself begins to find this experience a bit more interesting than the meaningless chatter of the other three. Within the span of five minutes, this one seemed eager to do more than just stand around, whereas the rest of this group didn't do much else besides ask questions and look terribly lost. In fact... against his usual cold attitude and somewhat better judgment, a faint but curious thought has already crept into his head, if not also come along in search of a true answer. Just who was that mystery Trooper...?!
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archoneddzs15 · 1 month
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Sega Saturn - Thunder Force V Special Pack
Title: Thunder Force V Special Pack / サンダーフォースV Special Pack
Developer/Publisher: Technosoft
Release date: 11 July 1997
Catalogue No.: T-1812G
Genre: 2.5D Horizontal Shooting
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Good old Technosoft who have now disappeared from the public eye ever since their acquisition by Pachinko enterprise Twenty-one Company have always been popular with Sega fans with their Mega Drive Thunder Force games and other excellent titles such as Elemental Master, Herzog Zwei, and Devil Crash MD. Now they've brought their excellent Thunder Force series to the Saturn. It's just a shame that their planned Thunder Force 6 for Dreamcast never got released. (Thunder Force 6 was released on the PlayStation 2 in 2008 but it was developed and published by Sega CS3 this time.)
This version of Thunder Force V is the limited Special Pack as written on the front. The game is the same as the standard version (as far as I could tell) but comes with a great music CD titled "Best of Thunder Force" which features remixes from Thunder Force 2 to 4. (Thunder Force 1 does not belong since some of the ports only play William Tell Overture.)
Thunder Force V is a mix of traditional 2D shooting action mixed with some very nice 3D action. Technosoft has produced one fine game here on the Saturn with using the hardware very well. TFV features such "Saturn can't do" effects as colored light sourcing, 3-level transparencies, and some amazing uses of polygons mixed with 2D sprites. TFV was also released on the PS1 - the PS1 version saw an American release thanks to Working Designs and their SPAZ label - but believe it or not, the Saturn version is much better. It's faster, has more transparency (YES THIS IS NOT A MISTAKE!!), and has faster loading that you can't really notice. The PS1 does have smoother textures but I'd go for the Saturn version any day.
The disc print on the Special Pack is also different than the normal version of Thunder Force V as you can see below along with the music CD. All the sounds of the Best of Thunder Force CD can be accessed here.
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